ICU admissions due to COVID-19 rise by 1 in N.L.

The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care in Newfoundland and Labrador rose by one on Friday, bringing the number of people in critical care due to the virus to eight.

Twenty people are currently in hospital in total as a result of COVID-19 in the province, which reported 258 new confirmed cases on Friday.

By region, there are 168 cases in the Eastern Health region, 43 cases in the Central Health region, 28 cases in the Western Health region and 19 cases in the Labrador-Grenfell region.

The new cases, offset by 229 reported recoveries, bring the province's known active case count to 1,746, according to the Department of Health.

A total of 1,416 COVID-19 tests were completed since Thursdays update for a test positivity rate of 18.2 per cent. The province has completed 486,437 tests to date.

New isolation guidelines for fully vaccinated travellers entering Newfoundland and Labrador will come into effect Saturday morning, meaning fully vaccinated travellers will no longer have to isolate for two days upon arrival. They will still have to complete a COVID-19 rapid test each day for five days after they arrive.

The change was announced Thursday alongside news that the province will move to a modified version of Alert Level 3 on Monday.

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