N.L. reports 7 new cases of COVID-19 with community testing underway in southwest region

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting seven new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, five of them related to travel within Canada and two that are close contacts of previous cases.

None of Thursday's cases are in the Western Health region, where health officials are trying to determine ifthere's been community transmission of COVID-19 in southwest Newfoundland.Western Health is conducting widespread testing of anyone living in the area, which includesthe Codroy Valley and Port aux Basques.

The testing is "a proactive measure," according to Dr. Monika Dutt, chief medical officer of health for Western Health, beginning on Thursday and running untilFriday.

As of Wednesday, there werethree cases of COVID-19 in the Codroy Valley connected to Belanger Memorial Schoolin Upper Ferry.The school has moved to online learning, and most students and staff have been tested, said Dutt.

"So far, it's been reassuring in that anyone who's been identified [as positive]has been a close contact, and we have not yet seen anyone who is unconnected to someone being positive, but we are still waiting for a number of results to come back," Dutt told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morningon Thursday.

Dutt said the school cases are connected to a larger investigation of a group of people in the area who have tested positive, and "there is enough questions and enough concern" to do wider testing of the community.Atthis point there has been no community transmission uncovered, she said.

Public health has said the Codroy Valley cases are contagious variants of the coronavirus.

People can register for the testing via the province's online portal or by calling 811, and anyone from Rose Blanch-Harbour Le Cou to South Branch is eligible.

Four of Thursday's cases are in the Eastern Health region. Two are under 20 years old and contacts of previous cases. Two are travel-related. The remaining three cases reported Thursday are in the Central Health region. Each of those cases are related to travel.

The Department of Health also reportedsix new recoveries on Thursday, one in the Eastern Health region, two in the Central Health region and three in the Western Health region. There is now no one in hospital due to COVID-19 and there are 82 active cases in the province.

Because of recent cases the Health Department issued more flight advisories on Thursday for passengers who travelled on the flights listed below to seek COVID-19 testing:

• Air Canada Flight 8016 from Montreal to St. John's on Tuesday.
• Air Canada Flight 7540 fromToronto to Deer Lake on Tuesday.

Passengers can complete the online self-assessment and referral toolor call 811 to arrange testing.

The Department of Health also dvised rotational workers about COVID-19 outbreak at worksites in Alberta:

• Civeo Athabasca Lodge.
• Energy Transfer Canada Kaybob South 3 processing plant.
• RCCC West Kakwa Lodge.
• Tamarack Valley Energy Drilling Rig Nipisi.
• Wapasu Creek Lodge.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Health Department said it was notified about the outbreaks by the Public Health Agency of Canada as people from the province workor live atthose sites.

Rotational workers with the projects who have returned to Newfoundland and Labrador in the last 14 days must now self-isolate and distance themselves from household members,call 811 to arrange testing and complete the full 14-day self-isolation period, regardless of test result, the Health Department said in a media release.

Alert Level 4

Alongside the testing effort, that same stretch of southwestern Newfoundlandis now in Alert Level 4. The tightening of restrictions which includes tamping down on visitation to the local hospital and personal-care homes will be in place for at least the next week.

Dutt said the move minimizes people's contacts and buys public health time to sift through test results and their investigative work.

"In the next few days to a week, we will have a good amount of information, and should we find that things are going well, we have only found a small group of people who are positive and no more, we will reassesses that alert level," she said.

To date, 137,572 people have been tested in Newfoundland and Labrador,including 535 since Wednesday's update.

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