COVID-19 hospitalizations jump by 8 in N.L.

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting a sharp spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations in its first May update.

Since Friday, the province's hospitalizations have jumped 50 per cent from 16 on Friday to 24 on Monday. There are three people in critical care, down one since Friday.

The province has also had another death due to COVID-19:a person 80 years old or older in the Western Health region.There have now been 165 COVID-19 deaths in the province, with nearly one-third of those 54 reported last month alone.

The Health Department is also reporting 197 new cases since Friday's update:103 on Saturday, 29 on Sunday and 65 on Monday.

Those numbers, though, are not a true indication of the spread of COVID-19, since the Department of Health is no longer releasing data on how many people are being tested and is restricting PCR testing.

Read morefrom CBC Newfoundland and Labrador