COVID-19 case confirmed at Gahcho Ku winter road work camp

An out-of-territory worker has testedpositive for COVID-19 at aGahcho Kumine satellite winter road work camp, the N.W.T. government confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

According to a news release, the worker is an employee of a company contracted byGahcho Ku. They are isolating and doing well.

The work camp has a pre-designated quarantine area separate from the accommodations facility, according to the release, and the individuals at the camp have not had any contact with any N.W.T. communities.

The Gahcho KuDiamond Mine has had two previous confirmed cases of COVID-19. Neither have counted towards the N.W.T.'s positive case count, with the government citing the fact that both cases were non-resident workers believed to have contracted COVID-19 outside of the territory.

"It is believed that the individual contracted COVID-19 before they travelled to the territory," the release reads, adding that the diagnosis was discovered "as a result of routine testing as per protocols of an outbound territory worker."

Nobody has left or arrived on site during any possible infectious period, the release says, and all contacts are currently isolating.

Public health is working to get all staff on site tested for COVID-19, and risk of further transmission on site is being assessed through testing.