N.S. reports no new COVID-19 deaths in a week for first time since January
Daily average of 240 cases for the 7-day period between July 26 and Aug. 1
Nova Scotia is reporting no new COVID-19 deaths for a seven-day period for the first time since Jan. 3.
In its weekly update on Thursday, the province reported a daily average of 240 new cases for the week of July 26-Aug. 1.
As of Thursday, there were 283 patients in hospitals across the province positive for COVID-19, according to Nova Scotia Health. That number includes:
- 33 patients admitted for treatment of COVID-19 symptoms (8 in ICU).
- 148 patients admitted for treatment of another health issue but tested positive for COVID-19.
- 102 patients who contracted COVID-19 after admission to hospital.
There were fewer than five children admitted to the IWK hospital due to COVID-19 symptoms as of Thursday. The IWK reported 72 staff off work and 15 isolating.
Nova Scotia Health reported 221 employees off work on Thursday due to being diagnosed as positive for COVID-19, awaiting results of a COVID-19 test or being exposed to a member of their household who tested positive for COVID-19.
Canada's public health officials have warned of an increase in hospitalizations as the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant BA.5 circulates around the globe while provinces have lifted mask mandates and ended measures meant to contain the spread of the virus.
Lab-confirmed cases top 1,600
Nova Scotia had a total of 1,683 lab-confirmed cases in its latest update to the provincial dashboard.
On July 6, the province limited who can access to PCR tests to select groups who are symptomatic, including people over 50, front-line health care workers and immunocompromised people. People who test positive on a rapid test can no longer have their result confirmed via a PCR test.
Since March 2020, there have been 468 COVID-19 deaths in Nova Scotia. About three-quarters of those deaths happened during the Omicron wave, which began Dec. 8, 2021.
