After an October that saw a record amount of COVID-19 deaths in one month, provincial health minister Paul Merriman is hopeful that the worst is behind us.

He says numbers seem to be trending that way thanks to measures that happened in September.

“I think we are seeing a positive impact from those measures.” Merriman said after Question Period on Monday. “Our vaccination rates have shot up, we are seeing our case numbers come down as well as our hospitalizations.”

Merriman also told reporters on Monday he has made a request to the federal government for doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. He did not say how many he has asked for, but he did say he hoped they would be here by the end of this month.