COVID-19 hospitalizations drop to 20 in N.L., with 5 in critical care

The number of people in hospital because of COVID-19 droppedby one in Newfoundland and Labrador on Tuesday.

There are now 20people hospitalized because of the virus, according to a news release from the province's Health Department. Five of those people are in critical care, the same number from Monday's update.

A total of 296 new confirmed cases were reported Tuesday, including 219 in the Eastern Health region, but public health has limited who gets tested for the virus, and the number is not an accurate measurement of the spread of the virus in the province.

There are also 38 new cases in the Western Health region, 30 cases in Central Health region and nine cases in the Labrador-Grenfell Health region.

The province also reported 277 new recoveries from COVID-19, leaving 2,688 known active cases an increase of19 from Monday.

A total of 1,756 COVID-19 tests have been completed since Monday, with a test positivity rate of 16.8 per cent. A total of 472,201 tests have been completed since the pandemic began.

The provincial government has scheduled a COVID-19 briefing for Wednesday at 2 p.m. NT.

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