2 new COVID-19 cases in N.L., not connected to small St. John's cluster

Newfoundland and Labrador reported twonew cases of COVID-19 on Friday, raising the province's active caseloadto 14, according to a media release from the Department of Health.

At a briefing Wednesday, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald announced the emergence of a small cluster of cases in St. John's.

Public health officials said Friday they've determined the cluster is linked to travel outside the province.Four of the province's active cases are connected to the cluster.

Both of Friday's new cases,who are women in their 50s located in the Eastern Health region, are related to travel within Canada.

The two new cases are not connected to the St. John's cluster.

The Department of Health said contact tracing by public health is underway and anyone considered a close contact has been advised to quarantine.

No recoveries were reported Friday, and no one is in hospital due to COVID-19 in the province.

The province is advising anyone who visited the Tim Hortons on Portugal Cove Road in St. John's from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. onAug. 12 to arrange for testing. Customers who went through the drive-thru do not need to get tested.

At Wednesday's briefing, Fitzgerald acknowledged that outbreaks cause anxietybut said vaccines are an important part of mitigating their severity.

"Our goal is to prevent deaths and protect acute-care hospital capacity. We do this in two ways: first with increasing our vaccination rate and second with practising our tried and true public health measures," she said.

Of the 14active cases,13are in the Eastern Health region while oneis in the Labrador-Grenfellregion.

To date, 267,158tests have been administered, including 752since Wednesday's update.

As of Wednesday, nearly 71 per cent of the province's eligible population had received two doses of vaccine, while 85 per cent had received at least one.

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