N.L. reports 1 new case of COVID-19 with systems still affected by health-care cyberattack

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting one new case of COVID-19, but testing systems are still affected by the cyberattack on the province's health-care system.

The new case is in the province's Eastern Health regionand is in a patient under 20 years old, a contact of another COVID-19 case. The Department of Health also reported 32 new recoveries since Monday, leaving 60 active cases in the province. One person is in hospital due to COVID-19.

Newfoundland and Labrador's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald,said Wednesday that while the province can still process as many swabs as it did last week, a wait-list for COVID-19 testing has grown because online tools to arrange for COVID-19 testing are down.

The pace of testing has slowed, and there are nowfewer than200 people waiting for a COVID-19 test as of Wednesday afternoon, Fitzgerald estimated.

"That's being worked on at all the regional health authorities now," she said.

"Certainly our hope is that this testing issue will be resolved today and that we'll be able to get those people back on track for testing. And we hope that it's going to be a very short-lived thing and that, you know, we'll have this back up online and be able to do what we've normally done before too long."

People who need a COVID-19 test for any reason now have to call 811 to arrange an appointment.

Cyberattack impacts

As a result of the cyberattack, the web portal to access COVID-19 results is unavailable. Patients who test positive for COVID-19 will be contacted within 72 hours, but Fitzgerald says those who test negative will not hear from public health officials.

"While we don't usually say in medicine that no news is good news, for right now, we are saying that," she said.

Anyone who has symptoms is asked to stay home even if they get a negative result, Fitzgerald said.

The provincial vaccination campaign is continuing, and vaccine appointments can be booked online.

However, the Newfoundland and Labrador Centres for Health Information is unable to collect data and report on vaccination statistics.

Marystown cluster

Health officials are still investigating a cluster of cases in the Marystown area.

Fitzgerald said Wednesday that public health has a "pretty good" handle on the situation, and though some new positive cases may be discovered, she is not expecting much community spread.

"That's very reassuring. And I think a big plug for how well vaccines work," she said. "This group of children, especially, had a well-vaccinated group of adults around them. And I think that went a long way to help prevent the spread."

Public health officials continue to prepare to vaccinate children between five and 11 years old, and Fitzgerald said she hopesrollout can begin before the Christmas school break. The province is waiting for Health Canada's approval to use the Pfizervaccine in that age group.

Fitzgerald said more information on therolloutof COVID-19 booster shots to eligible populations willalso be announcedsoon.

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