While there were five new COVID-related deaths reported in the province on Wednesday, hospitalizations as a result of the virus have dropped.

As of yesterday, there were 17 people in the hospital who were admitted with COVID-19. Five of those 17 are in critical care.

It’s the first time hospitalizations have dropped below 20 in some time.

Health Minister John Haggie says Public Health officials, who met this week to analyze the latest data, are hopeful that the province has seen the worst of the Omicron wave.

He says hospitalizations lag behind case numbers by about two weeks, and now that case numbers have come down considerably, “we may be on the mend as it were.”

There were 93 new confirmed COVID cases reported yesterday, and 114 from Tuesday.