Nova Scotia is reporting 10 new deaths related to COVID-19 between March 23 and March 30 in its weekly report on Thursday.
The province's weekly COVID-19 update shows a continued increase in lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases, as well as cases linked to long-term care and residential facilities.
In a news release Thursday, health officials say hospitalizations due to COVID-19 are increasing. However, they say the risk of severe illness remains low during the current Omicron wave.
"The increase in positive tests and hospitalizations shows the impact of both a highly infectious strain of COVID-19 and the second phase of our reopening," said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health.
"We have more community transmission and people are getting infected with the virus, but the proportion of hospitalizations and deaths among those has remained low - the direct result of vaccination."
Strang added the current COVID-19 situation in the province was expected, but is still concerning.
"And an important reminder that the pandemic is not over, and we need to do what we can to slow the spread," he said.
To date, the province has announced 255 deaths related to COVID-19, with 143 of those deaths reported during the Omicron wave.
Since the start of the Omicron wave, which began on Dec. 8, 2021, the median age of reported COVID-19 deaths is 79. Of those who died, 26.6 per cent had one dose of vaccine or were unvaccinated.
HOSPITALIZATIONS
Nova Scotia is reporting an increase in hospitalizations due to COVID-19.
Between March 23 and March 30, Nova Scotia saw 53 new hospital admissions due to the virus and 16 discharges.
As of Wednesday, there were 51 people in hospital due to COVID-19, 11 of whom were in intensive care.
Last week, the province had reported 42 people in hospital and 13 people in intensive care in its weekly report.
Of those in hospital:
- 21.6 per cent are unvaccinated or have one dose of vaccine
- the median age is 68
NEW CASES
There were 4,188 new COVID-19 cases identified with PCR tests between March 23 and March 30.
This is an increase of 735 new cases since the province announced 3,453 new PCR-confirmed cases in its weekly report last week.
VACCINES
As of Wednesday, 87.4 per cent of Nova Scotians had two or more doses of COVID-19 vaccine, 4.9 per cent had one dose, and 7.7 per cent were not vaccinated.
The province did not release an update on booster dose numbers due to a "technical issue."
TOP DOCTOR’S WEEKLY UPDATE NOW AVAILABLE TO PUBLIC
In an attempt to help Nova Scotians access COVID-19 information, and be able to better understand it, the province is making the weekly COVID-19 epidemiologic summary - which is prepared for Strang and his team - available to the public.
The report tracks weekly trends and focuses on monitoring for severe outcomes in key populations.
"I want Nova Scotians to have access to the same information as I do so they can see it and better understand the current situation with COVID in our province," said Strang.
"Not only does it help us assess our own risk and do what makes sense; it also allows us to see first-hand the impact of our actions-- like vaccines, masking and testing-- in very real terms."
The weekly report will be posted on the government's coronavirus website.
This week's report is available now.
DASHBOARD UDPATES COMING TO AN END
Nova Scotia says it will be ending its COVID-19 dashboard updates at the end of April.
The dashboard first became active in January 2021.
Currently, COVID-19 data can still be found on the province's COVID-19 online dashboard.
