A woman in her 50s and a man in his 70s have died from COVID-19.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Doctor Robert Strang reported the Central Zone deaths Tuesday.
He says that brings the provincial total to 69 COVID-19 related deaths.
Dr. Strang says they both died in their homes, and Public Health wasn’t aware one had COVID-19 until the person died.
“I can’t speculate with what happened in those individual cases, but what we do know is that this disease can progress very very quickly,” he says. “It’s fairly safe to assume, if somebody’s out in the community, that their illness has progressed fairly quickly.”
Dr. Strang says the disease can be fatal in 12 hours.
He says anyone who’s very sick should call 811 or 911, and they’re waving ambulance fees for anyone with COVID-19.
“Make sure that people with COVID, or with symptoms that would suggest they have COVID, needing urgent medical care, that there was not going to be a financial barrier for them reaching out.”
He says, as of now, the lockdown will likely be extended past this week.
153 new cases Tuesday, 1060 active infections, 37 people in hospital, and eight people in ICU.
