No new COVID-19 cases in N.L., more travellers advised to get tested

There are no new cases of COVID-19 in Newfoundland and Labrador on Monday, and the health minister is providing more details on the province's latest death related to the virus.

The province has four active cases. The total caseload is 277, with four deaths.

The most recent death was reported Saturday: aman, between the ages of 60 and 69, in the Western Health region who arrived in Canada from Central Africa. It was confirmed Sunday that awomanlinked to that case also has COVID-19.

She, too, is in the Western Health region, between the ages of 60 and 69, and also travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador from Central Africa.

The man had been granted a travel exemption to come to the province. Neither of the two Western Health cases worked in health care, the health authority confirmed Monday.

Who should get tested expanded

On Monday, the Department of Health expandedwho shouldget tested for the virus in relation to those two cases over the weekend.

Specifically, anyone who sat in rows 13 through 17 of Air Canada Flight 604 from Toronto to Halifax on Wednesday shouldshould call 811 to be tested, said the release, which also encouraged anyone else aboard that flight to be tested "out of an abundance of caution." The Department of Health also urged those travellers to self-isolate for 14 days from their date of their arrival, which, under provincial rules, they should already have been doing.With few exceptions, all travellers to the province from outside the Atlantic bubble must self-isolate for 14 days.

The department said people who flew from Halifax to Deer Lake that same day aboard Air Canada Flight 8876 who need to self-isolate have already been instructed to do so, and all other passengers should self-monitor for symptoms.

Man was tested for COVID-19 after his death

According to the Department of Health, the deceased man travelled from Central Africa to Canada on Tuesday, and then travelled tothe Western Health region, aboard those two flights Wednesday.

He died a day later while in self-isolation.

"My understanding is that COVID-19 will be put on the death certificate as a supplemental cause of death," Haggie said in the legislature Monday,in response to pressure from the Opposition.

He would not provide a response to a direct question about whether the man was tested after he died, citing the family's privacy as a reason not to disclose that information.

Speaking to reporters Monday afternoon, Haggieconfirmed the man who diedhad not been tested in Canada before his death.

"I have no direct, confirmed information about whether or not they were tested outside of Canada," he said. "All I can tell you is they were tested after [the man's] death."

Aside from people on thoseflights, Haggie said, there was no risk to anybody outside the contact tracing that has already happened.

Haggiereiterated his support for the way his department has released information so far on the man's death.

He said health officials encountered some challenges over the weekend in terms of obtaining information. Specifically, theyhad to ask the man's family what row they sat in on their flight. Family members could not find their boarding passes, he said.

He emphasized the often fluid nature of gathering information on COVID-19 cases. "If we didn't answer a question, then I'll apologize, and we'll do our best to do it better," he said.

As of Monday,44,296 people have been tested, including175 people since Sunday.

Haggie defends communication strategy

Haggierevealed more information about the fatalityin Monday's legislature,in response to pressure from the Opposition.

PC MHA David Brazil asked for clarification about whether the man had died from COVID-19 or from another cause.

Haggie instead pointed to a recommendation from the Conference Board of Canada that said Atlantic Canadian policies have been an examplefor the rest of the country to follow.

"At a time when there are over a thousand new cases a day in some provinces, we are seeing scattered cases, and we are controlling those as and when they appear," he said.

Brazil quoted from a CBC News report noting scattered, and sometimes inaccurate or misleading, information from the health department in recent days.

Haggie defended the department.

"Information evolves. Sometimes a test needs to be repeated. And rather than come out with inaccurate information, we wait, and we get it right," he said.

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