The number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations increased over the past week in New Brunswick.

According to the latest weekly COVID report, there were 29 hospital admissions for the week ending Saturday, Oct. 15, compared to 27 the previous week.

Among those admitted to the hospital were two people under the age of 20.

There were two admissions to the province’s intensive care units — one person between the ages of 10 and 19 and one person in their 60s.

As of Saturday, there were 35 people in the hospital because of COVID-19, up from 27 the week before. There were two people in an ICU, down from three a week earlier.

People between the ages of 70 and 89 account for the highest portion of hospitalizations, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the two regional health authorities reported 139 people in the hospital as of Oct. 15 (up from 113 a week earlier) and 11 in intensive care (up from seven).

• Horizon Health: 97 active admissions and nine in intensive care, compared to 87 active admissions and seven in intensive care one week ago.
• Vitalité Health: 42 active admissions and two in intensive care, compared to 26 active admissions and zero in intensive care one week ago.

Unlike the provincial data, which only accounts for those who are admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, the regional health authorities also include the number of patients who are initially admitted for another reason and later test positive for the virus.

Four more deaths reported

A total of four deaths attributed to COVID-19 were reported over the past week in New Brunswick.

Officials said the most recent deaths involved one person in their 60s, two in their 70s, and one in their 80s.

There have now been 576 deaths attributed to the virus in New Brunswick since the pandemic began.

Moncton region remains hotspot for new cases

A total of 1,362 positive cases were reported over the past week, including 747 positive PCR tests and 615 rapid tests. That was up from 1,161 reported positive cases the previous week.

The Moncton health region, Zone 1, continues to be the hotspot with 450 new cases, accounting for 33 per cent of last week’s total case count.

The Fredericton health region (Zone 3) recorded 25 per cent of the new cases while the Saint John health region (Zone 2) recorded 18 per cent of the new cases.

Amongst the most recent random samples sequenced, seven per cent were the BA.4 variant and 93 per cent were BA.5.

Vaccine doses

In terms of vaccinations, the Department of Health says 3,119 doses were given out over the past week, including 93 first doses, 168 second doses, 315 first booster doses, and 2,543 second booster doses.

A total of 85.5 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have received two doses, and 53.8 per cent have received a booster shot, and 22.9 per cent have received their second booster.

According to the two health authorities, 181 health care workers were off the job for COVID-related reasons as of Saturday, up from 126 a week earlier.