N.B. reports 16 more COVID-19 deaths, decrease in hospitalizations and new cases

COVID-19 has killed 16 more New Brunswickers, raising the pandemic death toll to 913, and all of the province's cases are now the Omicron variant XBB, the latest monthly update from the province shows.

One of the people who died was under 50 — the youngest age category provided, and the other 15 were all aged 70 or older, according to the COVIDWatch report.

One death occurred in December, three in March, seven in April, three in May and two in June, according to the Department of Health.

Deaths are subject to an average two-month lag in reporting from date of death to the registration of death, the report says.

Twenty-three people were newly admitted to hospital because of the virus between May 28 and June 24. Three of them require intensive care. That's down from 39 and four, respectively, a month ago.

"COVID-19 hospitalizations showed an initial decrease followed by stabilization," for an average of 5.8 hospitalizations per week, the report says.

The two regional health authorities report they have 24 hospitalized COVID patients, two of whom require intensive care, as of Saturday. That includes people who were either admitted because of COVID or initially admitted for another reason and later tested positive for the virus.

Last month, Horizon and Vitalité said they had 50 people hospitalized for or with COVID, including three in ICU.

There were 211 new cases of COVID confirmed through 2,492 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) lab tests during the reporting period.

That's a positivity rate of 8.5 per cent, down from 10.7 per cent last month, when 294 new cases of COVID confirmed through 2,748 PCR tests. The positivity rate serves as an indicator of community transmission.

"The number of confirmed cases slightly decreased while percent positivity remained relatively stable throughout the reporting period," for an average of 52.8 cases per week, the report says.

An additional 96 people self-reported testing positive on a rapid test in the past month, according to the Department of Health, down from 168.

Of the 63 random positive PCR samples sent for genetic sequencing between May 31 and June 16, 100 per cent were XBB, the COVIDWatch report shows.

The report does not provide a further breakdown of sublineages, such as  XBB.1.16, which has caused a surge in India, or XBB.1.5, which has been described as immune evasive and "the most transmissible" subvariant yet.