There are now zero active cases of COVID-19 in N.L.

Newfoundland and Labrador has now joined a small club of regions around the world that are free of any known cases of COVID-19.

The province posted its 21st consecutive day without a new case on Thursday, and the last remaining active case was deemed to be recovered.

It's the first time since March 14 that the province has not been dealing with at least one case of COVID-19.

Newfoundland and Labrador joins Prince Edward Island as the only Canadian province without any cases right now. The Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut which has not had a single recorded case are also free of the virus.

"I think it's a real testament to the people of the province," Health Minister John Haggie said. "They've listened, they've done everything we asked them."

Since the pandemic began, Newfoundland and Labrador has seen 261 total cases, with three deaths and 258 people recovered.

The outlook was muchdifferentin March, when the province experienced what was at the time the biggest single outbreak in Canada, related to a pair of funeral serviceshosted at Caul's Funeral Home in St. John's. What became known as "the Caul's cluster" would go on to infect 167 people 64 per cent of the total cases in the province.

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The funeral would lead to the first COVID-19 death in Newfoundland and Labrador. Larry Walsh, a 78-year-old retired police officer, caught the virusfrom a funeral wake for a family friend.

On April 1, a Conception Bay South man named Doug Taylor called paramedics to come take his wife, Debbie, to the hospital. Both had tested positive for COVID-19 after falling ill in mid-March.

Little did Taylor know at the time, it would be the last time he'd see his wife. She died five days later.

Taylor still doesn't know how he and his wife contracted the virus that causes COVID-19.

Fortunes began to change as April dragged on. Active cases dropped off as extensive contact tracing on the funeral home clusterwas completed.

Haggie said the province's contact tracing team was more efficient than the global standard when it came todetecting other infections within the first 48 hours of discovering the cluster.

"We have a small team that has really punched well above its weight here," he said.

Before the current 21-day stretch, the province went 20 days in May without an active case.

The last positive test came May 28, for a person who had recently returned to Newfoundland and Labrador from work. Their infection was contained and did not spread.

Haggie said the province is celebrating now, but still stands ready for a second wave. Border control will be the key in preventing that from happening.

"We don't know what we don't know. There are people coming into the province, probably between 250 and 350 pretty well every day," he said."We don't know whether or not some of those people may have been pre-symptomatic or harbouring the virus."

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