Nova Scotia reports 3 COVID-19 related deaths Tuesday

Nova Scotia reported three COVID-19 related deaths and53 people in designated hospital units, including 12 people in intensive careon Tuesday.

The deaths included a man in his 60s in the central zone, a woman in her 70s in the central zone and a man in his 90s in the northern zone.

The vaccination status of those in hospital is:

• 14 (26.4 per cent) people have had a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
• 22 (41.5 per cent) are fully vaccinated (two doses).
• One (1.9 per cent) is partially vaccinated.
• 16 (30.2 per cent) are unvaccinated.

Unvaccinated Nova Scotiansare about 5times more likely to be hospitalized 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 about 4 times as likely to die of COVID-19 during the Omicron wavethan someone who had received a booster dose, based on numbers provided by the province and last updated on Feb. 17.

Two other groups of people are in hospital related to COVID-19, including:

• 128 people who were identified as positive upon arrival at hospital but were admitted for another medical reason, or were admitted for COVID-19 but no longer require specialized care.
• 171 people who contracted COVID-19 after being admitted to hospital.

Premier Tim Houston and Nova Scotia Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang will provide an update on Wednesday at 3 p.m. AT.

Nova Scotia Health Authority labs completed 1,117 tests on Feb. 20 and 1,152 tests on Feb.21.An additional 263 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 are being reported since the last update on Feb. 20.

There are 103 new cases in the central zone, 47in the eastern zone, 54in the northern zone and 59in the western zone.

The province estimates there are1,858 active cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia.

As on Monday, the province says 91.2 per cent of Nova Scotians have had at least one dose of the COVID-19vaccine and86.4 per cent of Nova Scotians have received their second dose.