5 in hospital on P.E.I., new cases and recoveries announced

Prince Edward Island's chief public health officer announced five COVID-19 hospitalizations in the province, and new cases on Monday.

One of the hospitalized individuals is currently in the intensive care unit.

There are 320 new cases of COVID-19 on the Island to report since new cases were last reported Saturday. These cases are still under investigation.

There have been 436 recoveries and there are now 1,517 active cases.

There have been 2,893 total cases of COVID-19 on P.E.I. Over the past seven days, the province has been averaging 175 cases per day.

As of Saturday, 95.7 per cent of eligible Island residents 12 and up have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 92.4 per cent are fully vaccinated with two doses. Forty-seven per cent of children agedfive to 11have received their first dose. Over 25,000 people have received their third dose of COVID-19 booster.

Individuals should book their booster appointment for six months after their last dose. Getting a booster is an important layer ofprotection against serious illness related to the Omicron variant.

In order to preserve the limited capacity of Health P.E.I. testing clinics, until further noticetesting will continue to be limited to the following:

• Symptomatic individuals.
• Close contacts of positive cases.
• Confirmatory tests for individuals who test preliminary positive at a point-of-entry.
• Confirmatory tests for individuals who test preliminary positive with a rapid antigen test.