The province’s health minister is extending his condolences to the family of the seventh person to die in relation to COVID-19 in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Dr. John Haggie says the man—who was in his 70s—died peacefully but would not go into any other detail out of respect for the family’s privacy. Nor would he say if the person had pre-existing conditions that caused complications.

It’s also not clear if and what kind of variant was involved, but Haggie noted the number of seniors over 70 being admitted to hospital now is very small, compared to the first wave when admissions were almost exclusively in that age group. He added it’s a testament to vaccine uptake.

What’s more, Haggie says trials continue to show that mixing mRNA vaccines with others provides better immunity than having two doses of the same type.

Meanwhile, the minister says officials in the Bay St. George area are doing more community testing today before deciding whether to lower the alert level in the area, as was done in the Central region.

Source of Two Infections Remains Under Investigation

There are three new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the province today. They include a senior in the Central Health region, the source of which is under investigation, and two cases in the Western Health region.

One of the two cases in Western Health is a person under the age of 20 and is linked to the cluster, while the other is under investigation.

There are two presumptive positive cases, one in the Central Health region which is associated with the cluster, and one in Western Health associated with the cluster in that area.

There have been 10 new recoveries leaving 62 active cases—including one person in hospital.