N.L. smashes daily record for COVID-19 recoveries but number of hospitalizations rises to 5

There are now five people in hospital due to COVID-19 in Newfoundland and Labrador — up from four on Monday — but the number of recoveries has surged to a new single-day provincial record.

The Department of Health announced 750 new cases Tuesday, including 323 positives from samples sent out of province for testing.

A batch of more than 6,600 swabs were sent out of province between Dec. 29 and Jan. 6 as testing demand overwhelmed provincial capacity, Health Minister John Haggie said Monday. The province expected to have all results back on the swabs by Wednesday, he said at the time.

Around 1,300 more samples were sent out Monday afternoon, according to a statement from Eastern Health on Tuesday.

As the tests sent out of province continue to be processed, Haggie said they will likely show higher positivity because of the focus on testing higher-risk groups.

The province is closely monitoring the number of hospitalizations as case numbers increase, he said, since changes to testing requirements means not everyone who is positive for the virus will be tested.

Of the 750 new cases, 606 are in the Eastern Health region. There are also 70 cases in the Labrador-Grenfell region, 37 in the Western Health region, 21 in the Central Health region and 16 found in a private testing lab outside the regional health authorities.

With a record 494 recoveries recorded since Monday, the province's known active caseload rises to another new high of 6,211. The province's previous record for single-day recoveries was 186, set earlier this month.

A total of 438,960 COVID-19 tests have now been completed in the province, including 5,042 since Monday's update.

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