COVID-19 hospitalizations have sharply increased in Newfoundland and Labrador, rising from five to 14 in the last week.

Four of those people are in critical care which is double what it was in last week's COVID-19 update.

The province also reported three more deaths due to the virus on Wednesday.

All three people were in their 70s. One was living in the Eastern Health area and two were in the Western Health region.

The Department of Health counted 500 more positive cases over the last week: 78 on Thursday, 77 on Friday, 89 on Saturday, 70 on Sunday, 39 on Monday, 83 on Tuesday and 64 on Wednesday. That data, however, does not reflect the true spread of COVID-19 since the province restricted testing administered by its health authorities and no longer releases the number for how many people have gotten tested.