P.E.I. updates province’s COVID-19 death count after review of death certificates

Health officials on Prince Edward Island are reporting one new death related to COVID-19 in the province’s weekly update Tuesday.

The province says the person was over the age of 80.

P.E.I. also updated the total number deaths reported in the province after a review of death certificates with Vital Statistics.

Five deaths did not list COVID-19 as an underlying or contributing cause of death on the death certificates and were removed from the count. Thirteen additional deaths, from January to mid-May of this year, that listed COVID-19 as an underlying or contributing cause of death were identified and added to the count.

The province now says there have been 44 deaths related to the novel coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.

The island is also reporting a slight increase in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

HOSPITALIZATIONS

As of Tuesday, there are 11 people in hospital with the virus -- up two people from last week’s report.

Of those in hospital, four were admitted due to COVID-19 and seven tested positive on or after admission.

Currently, there is no one in intensive care due to COVID-19 on P.E.I.

OUTBREAK UPDATE

P.E.I. is reporting outbreaks in two long-term care homes:

• Rev Phillips Residence Community Care
• Perrins Marina Villa Community Care

NEW CASES AND TESTING

P.E.I. is reporting 691 new cases of COVID-19 since its last update – 59 more cases than the 632 new cases reported last week.

Over the last week, there has been an average of 99 new cases per day on the island -- an increase of 9 from the 90 average daily new cases reported last week.

Currently, there are 926 active cases of COVID-19 on P.E.I.

An average of 304 COVID-19 tests have been conducted daily at provincial COVID-19 testing sites over the last seven days. Of those, 33 per cent came back positive, a slight increase compared to last week.

P.E.I. has confirmed a total of 39,377 COVID-19 cases to date.

Data from P.E.I.'s weekly COVID-19 update can be found on its website.