Hospitals in Nova Scotia are reporting a significant jump in the number of patients testing positive for COVID-19.
As of Thursday, there are a total of 260 patients in hospitals across the province who have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Nova Scotia Health. This number includes:
- 45 patients admitted to treat symptoms of COVID-19 (nine in the ICU).
- 143 patients admitted to treat another health problem but tested positive for COVID-19.
- 72 patients who contracted COVID-19 after hospital admission.
That’s an increase of 64 patients from last week, one of the largest weekly increases reported in Nova Scotia hospitals since the start of the pandemic.
There are less than five children admitted to IWK Hospital due to symptoms of COVID-19 as of Thursday.
Public health officials in Canada have warned of an increase in hospitalizations as the highly transmissible Omicron BA.5 subvariant circulates around the world while provinces have lifted mask mandates and ended measures aimed at contain the spread of the virus.
Nova Scotia reports 5 new deaths
Nova Scotia reports five new deaths from COVID-19 and a daily average of 272 lab-confirmed cases in its latest update to the provincial dashboard.
The figures are for a seven-day period from July 19 to 25.
There were a total of 1,910 positive PCR tests, a small increase from last week. This number does not include positive results from rapid tests.
On July 6, the province limited who can access PCR tests to select groups with symptoms, such as people over 50, frontline health workers and immunocompromised people. People who test positive in a rapid test can no longer have their result confirmed by a PCR test.
Since March 2020, there have been 468 deaths from COVID-19 in Nova Scotia. About three-quarters of these deaths occurred during the Omicron wave, which began on December 8, 2021.