HALIFAX — The strain on Nova Scotia's intensive care units due to an influx of COVID-19 patients should peak by the end of next week, the province's top critical-care doctor said Thursday.

COVID-19 patients are expected to continue to arrrive in hospital and to be admitted to critical care over the next three to four weeks, Dr. Tony O'Leary, medical director of critical care for Nova Scotia Health, told reporters.

"But we should hit the peak of those admissions, according to the modelling, sometime toward the middle to end of next week," O'Leary said.

Nova Scotia Health says it has activated a plan to increase intensive care capacity because of the influx of critical care cases in Halifax, which has borne the brunt of the outbreak.

O'Leary said Halifax-area patients can be transfered to hospitals in Sydney, Truro, Kentville and Yarmouth, N.S., adding that fewer than five patients have been transferred so far from Halifax to hospitals in the northern and western health regions.

He said the plan is working. "If there should be surprises down the road ... they should be very suitably handled within the model we have," O'Leary said.

Nova Scotia reported 110 new cases on Thursday, 83 of which were in the Halifax area. Health officials said 93 people with COVID-19 were in hospitals across the province, including 23 patients in Halifax intensive care units.

O'Leary said the province's critical-care system usually operates with 98 beds but it can expand to 229 beds if needed.

"The modelling says we will not get to that number," O'Leary said. "Currently within the system, it is only the Halifax Infirmary that is over capacity."

Meanwhile, Nova Scotia announced a milestone in its COVID-19 vaccination program after administering a 400,000th dose of vaccine Thursday. Health officials said the province had doubled the number of shots administered in less than a month, after the 200,000th dose was given April 16. 

Officials said 37.5 per cent of the population had received one or more doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of Wednesday. They added that more than 80 per cent of people 60 and over have received at least one dose and all residents of long-term care facilities had been fully vaccinated.

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Robert Strang called the vaccination program a "marathon, not a race."

"We've always said we need to get good, before we get fast," Strang said in a news release. "The hard work of staff on the front lines and behind the scenes has paid off and we have a vaccination program that can efficiently mesh the demand for vaccines with the supply we receive to get doses into arms quickly."

The update came a day after the province said it was pausing its rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, citing concerns about rare but serious cases of blood clots. Officials said the decision was made out of "an abundance of caution'' and based on the fact Nova Scotia has enough other vaccines to fully immunize people 40 and older.

The government says starting at 8 a.m. Friday, permanent residents of Nova Scotia and people travelling for essential reasons must apply to enter the province. People will be able to apply through the established Nova Scotia Safe Check-in process. Officials said that starting May 20, only approvals through the new process will be accepted.

The province has 1,572 active reported cases of COVID-19.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2021. 

Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press