Newfoundland and Labrador has had its first death due to COVID-19.
The patient — a retired man in the Eastern Health region — died Sunday, about three days after being hospitalized.
More details on the spread of COVID-19 are expected to be revealed this afternoon as Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, Newfoundland and Labrador’s chief medical officer of health, Premier Dwight Ball and Health Minister John Haggie address the public at 2:00 pm.
The briefings have become a daily occurrence as the provincial government, like others across the country, updates the total number of COVID-19 cases and any other developments related to it.
This past weekend, for example, saw two significant developments.
The first instances of what’s called community transmission were confirmed.
On Saturday, Fitzgerald said the cases were in the Central Health region and the Labrador-Grenfell Health region. Community transmission relates to cases where public health staff cannot connect the infection to another proven case.
Fiztgerald, who said this development was expected, and stressed staying indoors to limit the spread of the disease.
By Sunday, the number of people with COVID-19 who needed to be hospitalized increased to seven, with two of those people in intensive care.
The total number of cases in the province now sits at 135.
Some 2,107 tests for COVID-19 have now been completed. Four people in the province had recovered from the virus as of Sunday.