Nova Scotia reports first child death from COVID-19

Nova Scotia is reporting its first child death related to COVID-19. 

In a news release on Friday, the province said a child between the ages of five and 11 had died.

"It is with deep sadness that we must report COVID has taken the life of a child in our province," said Premier Tim Houston in the release.

"The loss of a child is something that no family should ever have to endure. My condolences are with the family during this very difficult and tragic time."

Nova Scotia also reported 82 people in designated COVID-19 units on Friday, including 11 in intensive care.

The age range for those currently in hospital is four to 93 years old. The median age of those in hospital is 65 and those in hospital stay for a median length of six days.

Since the Omicron wave began on Dec. 8, 58 Nova Scotians have died because of COVID-19.

Of those in hospital:

Currently, unvaccinated Nova Scotians are about 4½ times more likely to be hospitalized or die due to COVID-19 than someone with two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. That is based on average hospitalizations since the province started releasing daily hospitalization numbers by vaccine status on Jan. 4.

Unvaccinated people are also more than seven times as likely to die of COVID-19 than someone who had received a booster dose.

"It is never easy reporting a death, especially when it is someone so young," said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's Chief Medical Officer of Health in the news release.

"Today's death continues to highlight the seriousness of a disease that knows no bounds and the importance of getting vaccinated to protect yourself and those around you."

There are two other groups of people in hospital related to COVID-19:

Nova Scotia labs completed 2,385 tests on Thursday and reported 389 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 162 in the central zone, 48 in the eastern zone, 79 in the northern zone and 100 in the western zone.