Four more people have died due to COVID-19 over the past week in Newfoundland and Labrador, raising the province's total number of deaths to 245 since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

Of the four, three people were in their 70s and one was 80 or older. Three of the deaths were in the Eastern Health region and the fourth was in Western Health.

Hospitalizations have dropped from 13 last week to eight this week, including one person in critical care, down from two last week.

The province also confirmed 193 new cases of COVID-19 over the past week. However, those numbers don't accurately represent the full spread of COVID-19 as the province has restricted PCR tests administered by regional health authorities, and the case numbers don't include positive results from rapid tests people take themselves.