N.L. reports 1 new case of COVID-19 connected to Eastern Health cluster

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting one new case of COVID-19 on Thursday,connected to the recent cluster in the Eastern Health region.

The new case is a female under 19 years old and is a contact of a previously known case in the cluster a member of the same household.The woman is self-isolating and contact tracing is complete. The Department of Health said the new case is the previously suspected case connected to a daycare, announced last week. Additional testing confirmed the case, said a spokesperson for the department.

Public health is continuing to investigate thesource of the infection for the cluster, which now has six cases.

The Health Department also said thereis also one new presumptivepositive case of COVID-19 in the Eastern Health region.

The case, a manbetween 40 and 49 years old and a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador,is self-isolating andcontact tracing is underway, according to the Department of Health.Anyone considered a close contact is being advised to quarantine. The provincial public health and microbiology lab will do more testing to confirm the case,says Thursday's media release.

"Until confirmation is received from the provincial lab, this case is considered presumptive positive," says the release. With the one new confirmed case and a new recovery, the province's caseload remains 14. If the presumptive case is confirmed by the provincial lab, the numbers on the government's COVID-19 data hub will be updated.

Thursday's new recovery is in the Eastern Health region, and there is now nobody in the hospital due to the virus.

To date, 81,345 people have been tested, including 285 in the last day.

New Brunswick tightens up

One of the Atlantic Canadian provinces has tightened up its self-isolation rules for anyone, including rotational workers, returning to the province.

Anyone entering New Brunswick has to complete 14 days of self-isolation. If they can't do it in a separate facility or separate from their household, then everyone in that household must also complete a 14-day isolation.

"That means that everyone in the home stays in the home and cannot go to work, school or anywhere else unless there is a medical emergency," saidHealth Minister Dorothy Shephardat a news conference late last week.

In addition, if anyone in the home develops symptoms, they must get tested, and everyone in the household must begin the 14-day isolation again if there is a positive case.

While N.L.'s active COVID-19 caseload is 14, could a similar tightening of self-isolation rules be implemented in this province?

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald saidofficials in the province are focusing on the epidemiology, and that discussion hasn't happened yet.

"Those are conversations that we will be having, I'm sure, in thenext few days, as to how we respond to some of these variants, of concern, for example," she said at Wednesday's briefing.

On Thursday the Department of Health again askedpassengers who travelled on either of two flights to arrange COVID-19 testing:

• Air Canada Flight 7480 from Montreal to St. John's on Jan.22.
• Air Canada Flight 7481 from St. John's to Montreal onJan.24.

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