The Northwestern Health Unit has reported three new deaths related to COVID-19, as its active case count rose to record levels for a fifth consecutive day.
The announcement saw the NWHU's total COVID-related death toll rise to 13, up four this week after the health unit reported another death on Wednesday.
The total includes all those who had COVID-19 at the time of death. TBNewswatch has requested further details on the number of fatalities in which the virus was identified as a cause.
There were six NWHU residents in hospital with the virus Friday, up one from Thursday and up two from Wednesday.
The NWHU reported 126 new cases Friday, with 80 of those in the Sioux Lookout region and 32 in the Kenora region.
The total number of active cases rose to 518 across the health unit, up 79 from the day before.
By region, that included 226 in Sioux Lookout, 205 in Kenora, 30 in Dryden, 23 in Fort Frances, 18 in Red Lake, seven in Atikokan, five in Emo, and four in Rainy River.
The health unit repeated its caution that those numbers underestimate the spread of the virus, due to limited testing availability.
