Virus claims 10 more New Brunswickers, hospitalizations stable, include 4 children under 10

Ten more New Brunswickers who had COVID-19 have died, and the number of new hospital admissions because of the virus more than doubled in the past week, according to Tuesday's update from the government.

But active hospitalizations remain stable and the number of people requiring intensive care has dropped, the weekly COVIDWatch report shows.

Four children under age 10 are among those hospitalized.

The province no longer provides information about new COVID-related deaths, such as their age groups, or which health zones they lived in.

But a comparison of this week's report to last week's reveals the people who died between April 10 and April 16 include a person in their 50s, two in their 60s, two in their 70s, two in their 80s, and three in their 90s.

COVID-19 was "a primary or contributing factor to cause of death as per the attending physician," the website states.

The latest deaths raise the province's pandemic death toll to 378.

The number of new hospital admissions jumped to 102, from 41 the previous week, according to the province's web page.

As a result, the seven-day moving average of hospitalizations for COVID-19, including ICU admissions, now stands at 88, up from 78.

The number of people currently in hospital because of the virus, however, remains unchanged at 79, including six in ICU, a decrease of seven from the previous report.

Only people hospitalized for COVID are included on the government's replacement for the COVID-19 dashboard, not people who were initially admitted to hospital for another reason and later test positive for the virus.

Horizon Health Network's new weekly dashboard, which includes both types of patients, won't be updated until Wednesday, because of the holiday Monday, said spokesperson Kris McDavid.

Vitalité Health Network's new weekly dashboard won't be updated until Wednesday either.

"The highest portion of hospitalizations for COVID-19 is among individuals aged 60-79," a government summary states.

"Individuals that are unprotected by vaccine continue to have the highest rate of hospitalization for COVID-19 and death."

Among the 15 people admitted to intensive care during this reporting period, one was in their 30s, one in their 40s, three in their 50s, five in their 60s, three in their 70s, and two in their 80s.

The number of patients on ventilators is no longer provided by Public Health.

A total of 5,645 new cases of COVID have been recorded in the past week. That includes 2,956 people who tested positive through PCR lab tests and 2,689 people who self-reported testing positive on rapid tests.

Based on PCR tests alone, there are now 4,789 active cases across the province.

The regional breakdown of the new and active cases includes:

• Moncton region, Zone 1 — 979 new PCR-confirmed cases, 902 new rapid test cases and 1,589 active cases
• Saint John region, Zone 2 — 551 new PCR-confirmed cases, 557 new rapid test cases and 911 active cases
• Fredericton region, Zone 3 — 527 new PCR-confirmed cases, 673 new rapid test cases and 884 active cases
• Edmundston region, Zone 4 — 239 new PCR-confirmed cases, 121 new rapid test cases and 400 active cases
• Campbellton region, Zone 5 — 103 new PCR-confirmed cases, 48 new rapid test cases and 195 active cases
• Bathurst region, Zone 6 — 344 new PCR-confirmed cases, 220 new rapid test cases and 522 active cases
• Miramichi region, Zone 7 — 213 new PCR-confirmed cases, 168 new rapid test cases and 288 active cases

According to the website, 51.8 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have now received their COVID-19 booster dose, up from 51.6 per cent a week ago, 87.8 per cent have received two doses, up from 87.7 per cent, and 93.1 per cent have received their first dose, up from 93 per cent.

New Brunswick has had 58,768 confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic with 53,601 recoveries, now described as "resolved" cases, so far.