N.L. reports 349 new COVID-19 cases, breaking another daily record

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting 349 new cases of COVID-19,gainingmore cases in a single day than it accumulated in total duringthe first eightmonths of the pandemic.

Mostof the new cases, 199, are in the Eastern Health region. There are also 53 cases in the Central Health region, 22 in the Western Health region and 66in the Labrador-Grenfell region, according to a media release Thursday.

One of the cases in the Labrador-Grenfell region includes the first confirmed case in the community of Sheshatshiu, according to Shannon Tobin,special liaison to Chief Eugene Hart. The town implemented special security measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the community Wednesday night.

There are also nine new cases as a result of testing completed by a private lab outside a regional health authority. Those cases do not fitin thebreakdown of cases by health region.

The sources of all cases areunder investigation.

The new cases, offset by 32 announced recoveries, raise the number of active cases in the province to 1,428 an all-time high since the pandemic hit Newfoundland and Labrador in March 2020.

There are 975 cases in the Eastern Health region, 174 in the Central Health region, 163 in the Western Health, 105 in the Labrador-Grenfell region and 11 cases in which the region is unknown.

The new numbers set another record for highest single-day case increasein the province, fuelled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said Wednesday mostrecently reported cases are Omicron cases.

One person is in hospital due to COVID-19. A total of 3,441 tests have been completed in the last 24 hours, raising the number of completed tests in the province to 388,900.

Vaccination against COVID-19 continues in the province, with over 92 per cent of the eligible population now deemed fully vaccinated. Over 95 per cent of the eligible population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, including over 65 per cent of eligible children ages five to 11.

Health-care visitation suspended

During Wednesday's COVID-19 briefing, Health Minister John Haggie saidthe Health Department was ushering in the additional restrictions for the next two weeks across all regions.

"You can recall back in March of 2020 we took prompt action to protect those most vulnerable citizens," Haggie said.

"It is unfortunate we have to do this at the holiday season, but our prime concern has to be the safety of residents within these facilities."

Haggie said the restrictions will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

In a media release Thursday, Eastern Health said all in-person visits toinpatients in hospitals andresidents of long-term care homes, personal care homes, community care homes and assisted living facilitieshave been shut down until further notice.

"The general public are asked not to visit any patients or residents during this time," reads the release.

Eastern Health said inpatients and residents may be permittedonedesignated support person or caregiverfor the duration of their stay in"certain exceptional circumstances,"while the restrictions are in place.

Other exceptions include:

• Pediatric in-patientsare permitted to have both parents or guardians as support persons, who may be present at the same time.
• Labour and delivery patientsmay have one support person attend labour and delivery.The support person can continue to support the patient for the duration of the time in hospital and there are no restrictions on the number of visits per day.
• Palliative care and end-of-lifevisitation should be discussed with the health-care team.

Similar restrictions are in place in the Central Health and Western Health regions, according to those health authorities' respective websites.

Labrador-Grenfell Health is permitting one essential support person for residents of long-term care homes, while obstetric patients may have two visitors and palliative-care patients are permitted up to six.

Metrobus also announced Thursday it will begin on a reduced schedule in metro St. John'seffective Monday due to an anticipated decrease in ridership as people work from home and schools move learning online.Metrobus general manager Judy Powell said in a media release the buses will be essentially "operating on a summer schedule."

Under Alert Level 3, buses are limited to 19 passengers.

Exposure notifications

More COVID-19 exposure notifications were issued Thursday. Anyone who visited the listed locations at the following dates and times should book a COVID-19 test:

Eastern Health region:

• Five Guys, Avalon Mall, 48 Kenmount Rd., St. John's, Dec. 24from noonto 1 p.m.
• Denny's, 227 Kenmount Rd., St. John's, Dec. 26from 1p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
• GoodLife Fitness, Atlantic Place, 215 Water St., St. John's, Dec. 23from 4 p.m. to 6p.m.
• The Warehouse Gym, 1A Blackmore Ave., Clarenville, Dec. 22from 1p.m. to 4p.m.
• McDonald's, 54 Kenmount Rd., St. John's, Dec. 23from 8a.m. to 10 a.m. andDec. 26from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Kelsey's Restaurant, 300 Kenmount Rd., St. John's, Dec. 26from 2p.m. to 7p.m.
• The Hair Strand & Spa, 1306 Topsail Rd., Paradise,Dec. 22from 6:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
• A&W, 68 Kenmount Rd., St. John's, Dec. 24from 9:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
• Subway (Orangestore), 986 Kenmount Rd., Paradise, Dec. 23from 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
• Mallard Cottage, 8 Barrows Rd., St. John's, Dec. 22from 7:30 p.m. to 9p.m.

For those looking to be tested in the Western Health region, the health authority announced testing in the Stephenville and Bay St. George areas will now take place at Stephenville High School starting Friday. Anyone who had an appointmentwill now be seen at the walk-in school site.

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