N.B. reports 6 new COVID-19 deaths, slight increase in hospitalizations

New Brunswick is reporting six new COVID-19-related deaths in its weekly report Tuesday.

According to the province's update, the deaths involve:

• a person in their 50s
• four people in their 80s
• a person aged 90 or over

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 621 people in New Brunswick have died of the virus.

The data in Tuesday’s report covers Nov. 27 to Dec. 3.

HOSPITALIZATIONS

The number of active hospitalizations for COVID-19 have increased over the last week, from 38 to 40. The number of hospital admissions also increased from 27 to 32.

As of Saturday, no one was being treated in intensive care.

According to the province, most people who are hospitalized for COVID-19 are in their 70s and 80s. The government also says unvaccinated people continue to have the highest rate of COVID-19 ICU admissions.

NEW CASES

The number of new PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased slightly this week compared to last.

The province reported 606 new cases in its weekly update, an increase of 10 from the week before.

As of Saturday, there were 872 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, up from 790.

The seven-day moving average of COVID-19 cases slightly increased from 85 to 88.

The regional breakdown of the newest COVID-19 cases is as follows:

• Zone 1: 193
• Zone 2: 124
• Zone 3: 147
• Zone 4: 29
• Zone 5: 34
• Zone 6: 47
• Zone 7: 32

COVID-19 VARIANTS IN THE PROVINCE

Health officials in New Brunswick have given a recent random sample that was sequenced to better understand which COVID-19 variants are currently in the province.

• 0 per cent of samples are BA.1
• 2 per cent of samples are BA.2
• 0 per cent of samples are BA.3
• 7 per cent of samples are BA.4
• 91 per cent of samples are BA.5

VACCINATIONS

As of Saturday, 90.8 per cent of people in New Brunswick had one dose of vaccine, 85.7 per cent had two doses, 54.3 per cent had one booster and 27.4 per cent had two boosters.