NL breaks daily record for COVID-19 recoveries but number of hospitalizations drops to 5

A batch of more than 6,600 swabs were sent out of the province between Dec. 29 and Jan. 6 as demand for testing exceeded provincial capacity, Health Minister John Haggie said on Monday. The province expects all results to be back on swabs by Wednesday, he said at the time.

About 1,300 additional samples were sent on Monday afternoon, according to a statement from Eastern Health on Tuesday.

As tests sent out of the province continue to be processed, Haggie said they will likely show higher positivity due to the focus on testing higher risk groups.

The province is closely monitoring the number of hospitalizations as the number of cases increases, he said, as changes to testing requirements mean that not all people positive for the virus will be tested.

Of the 750 new cases, 606 are in the Eastern Health Region. There are also 70 cases in the Labrador-Grenfell region, 37 in the Western Health Region, 21 in the Central Health Region and 16 found in a private testing laboratory outside of the regional health authorities.

With a record 494 recoveries recorded since Monday, the province’s known active cases hit a new high of 6,211. The province’s previous record for single-day recoveries was 186, set earlier this month. this.

A total of 438,960 COVID-19 tests have now been performed in the province, including 5,042 since Monday’s update.

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