FREDERICTON — New Brunswick is reporting nine deaths from COVID-19 for the week that ended Saturday, bringing the total to 358 since the start of the pandemic. 

Health officials said Tuesday 12 more people were admitted to hospital for COVID-19 over the same period. There were 78 people in hospital as a result of the disease, including nine in intensive care. 

Those numbers, however, do not include patients admitted for another reason who later tested positive for COVID-19.

"To align with reporting practices in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, reported hospitalizations will only include people hospitalized for COVID," according to a statement issued Tuesday by the Health Department. 

The department launched a new online COVID-19 dashboard, which will be updated every Tuesday with information from the week ending the prior Saturday. Aside from no longer disclosing all hospital patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, New Brunswick health officials are no longer publishing the number of people on ventilators or the number of hospital staff off work due to COVID-19.  

"These changes better reflect the usual surveillance and reporting of communicable diseases," the Health Department said. "As the province continues to transition to living with COVID-19, ongoing reports will aim to communicate the risks of severe disease."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 5, 2022.

Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press