The territorial government says COVID-19 has claimed the lives of two more Yukoners.

In a news release sent out at 5:30 p.m. Monday, the Yukon’s acting chief medical officer of health, Dr. Catherine Elliott, announced “two additional Yukoners have died due to COVID-19.

“These are in addition to the two deaths reported last week during the COVID-19 update. This brings the total to 20 deaths due to COVID-19 since the first death was reported in October 2020.

“I am saddened to announce these COVID-19 deaths in the Yukon and express my condolences to the family and friends of these individuals,” Elliott added.

“Out of respect for the individuals and their families, we will not be releasing any additional information.”

The four deaths announced in less than a week represent a new high by a wide margin.

The news release also included an interesting side note explaining how the government defines a COVID-19 death.

“A death is attributed to COVID-19 when COVID-19 is the cause of death or is a contributing factor,” the note states.

“This verification is important because severe outcomes and morbidity are key indicators that inform guidance and decision-making to manage public health in response to COVID-19.”

The government also announced the current case numbers from the past weekend.

The active case count stands at 128, with 49 new cases over the weekend.

Elliott has cautioned repeatedly over the last few weeks not to read too much into the numbers since access to the PCR tests has changed.

Also, results from the self-administered rapid tests Yukoners can do at home are not required to be reported to public health officials, making the case count numbers less reliable.

On Jan. 31, the government reported 193 active cases, so superficially, the numbers have improved.

However, the testing positivity rate remains at 37.5 per cent, indicating many COVID-19 cases are going undetected.

There have been 3,235 recorded cases of the virus in the territory since 2020.

There are no new COVID-19 cases hospitalized, according to the report.

However, on Monday, both the Whitehorse General Hospital and the Dawson City hospital reported some shortages of available rooms in their respective hospitals.

At the Whitehorse General Hospital (WGH), the shortage was in the intensive care department.

James Lowe, a government spokesperson for the hospitals, told the Star on Monday afternoon, “For context, Yukon has four ICU beds at WGH. Currently, three of the four (75 per cent) are occupied with non-COVID patients.

“Overall, we have beds available at all three hospitals. Currently, we have only one COVID-positive patient in hospital.”

Lowe added, “The main impact on hospital operations during this phase of the pandemic continues to be from staff absences due to illness and isolation.

“Today, this means we have reduced outpatient (scheduled appointments) services in medical imaging and physio/occupational therapy.

“Regardless to bed availability, we continue to encourage all Yukoners to not delay or avoid coming to hospital if they need urgent care.

“The colour-coded system on our website is only designed to give the public an idea of how busy the hospitals are right now.”