Nova Scotia is reporting 18 new COVID-19 deaths.
The province has released its weekly update on the virus looking at the seven-day period ending May 9th.
Health officials are reporting 3,118 new lab-confirmed cases and 65 hospitalizations.
In the last update, there were 22 deaths and 3,415 new cases.
The province says the number of new infections continues to drop since the peak of the current wave in April.
“We’re seeing virus activity continue to slow down in Nova Scotia and that’s great news, but the number of hospitalizations and deaths remains high – and that’s important to keep in mind even as we make our way out of the sixth wave,” Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang says in a news release. “The late-spring surge in other respiratory viruses happening across the country right now – including in Nova Scotia – is all the more reason to keep our guard up.”
The number of COVID-19 cases linked to long-term care and residential care facilities is also down this week.
“There have been more cases in long-term care during the Omicron waves – the fifth and sixth waves of the pandemic – than in prior waves and more than twice as many to date in the current wave compared to the fifth,” the province says in a news release. “Of those cases, the number of hospitalizations and deaths remains very low because of the protection provided by vaccines.”
The risk of hospitalization is about 10 times higher for those aged 70 years and older compared to those 18 to 49, and the risk of death is more than 100 times higher compared to those under 50.
