The biggest increase in new cases in a year in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia reported its biggest increase in new cases on Thursday, as it saw the start of the epidemic a year earlier.

Public health officials were reporting 38 new cases on Thursday, bringing the total to more than 100 tolls since last Friday amid the first signs of community broadcasting in the Halifax area.

Of the 38 new cases identified on Thursday, 33 were actually reported in the Halifax area. Three other cases were reported in the eastern region, while the northern and western regions each registered a new case. The province currently has 111 active cases.

Officials say four cases in Halifax are related to travel

Abroad and at home, but the other five new cases in the province are all travel-related – four outside the country and one outside the Atlantic region.

The previously announced new travel restrictions went into effect on Thursday morning: non-essential travel to Nova Scotia is now banned from anywhere in the country except Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Halifax School Board also confirmed that a total of seven schools were closed. The Nova Scotia Teachers Association calls for immediate evaluation and improvement of protocols in schools. The union also calls for vaccination of teachers and school staff as a priority.

The outbreak in Nova Scotia also led the government to cancel the World Women’s Hockey Championship, which was scheduled to take place in Halifax and True next month. Therefore, this tournament is canceled for the second consecutive year due to the epidemic. This year’s one was postponed from April to May before finally being canceled.

Relatively stable in New Brunswick.

For its part, New Brunswick reported on Thursday 19 new cases of COVID-19, including 11 in the Edmondston area.

These 11 cases are all contacts with already known cases and nine have been linked to the outbreak at Pavilon Beau-Lieu, a special care home in Grand Falls. These nine cases will not be associated with the more common outbreaks in the Edmondston area. Public Health also announced on Thursday that the notice of an outbreak at Residence Rolande-Long, a special care home in Edmondston on April 3, was now “officially over”.

“We know that the (Edmondston area) is progressing and that cases continue to decline slowly, but we still have to wait a few more days to make sure that” Health Chief Medical Officer Jennifer Russell he said .

“There are still cases whose origin cannot be edited in the Edmondston area, which poses a risk, therefore, for now, areas that are currently incorporated and in the orange phase.”

One area of ​​the Edmondston area, namely the city and the Haute-Madwaska region, is still under control. However, the Saint-Lonard, Grand-Sault, Drummond, New Denmark and Four Falls communities are now in the orange phase. The rest of the provinces, including the Saint-Quentin and Kedgwick regions in the Edmondston area, are still in the yellow phase.

There were 146 active cases in New Brunswick on Thursday; 15 people were hospitalized, of which five were given intensive care. Since the onset of the epidemic, the province has recorded 34 deaths from COVID-19. Dr. Russell urged residents for a while: within 10 weeks, all New Brunswickers will be able to request the first dose of the vaccine.

NL and PEI

Newfoundland and Labrador announced three new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and four recoveries.

Two out of three new cases in the western health sector, including youth under the age of 20, have close contact with known cases. The third case is in the Eastern Health Zone and involves a visit to Canada. There are 26 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, but no hospitalization.

Prince Edward Island reported a new case of COVID-19 on Thursday, after a man arrived on the island from outside of Atlantic Canada. As of Thursday, 12 active cases were reported in the province. Prince Edward Island has recorded a total of 175 infections and no deaths from the virus since the onset of the epidemic.

Vaccination for citizens 40 and older in the province will begin next week. Essential employees between the ages of 16 and 39 who cannot be vaccinated include teachers, transit drivers and grocery and commercial workers.

The Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Heather Morrison says the island is on track to meet its collective immunity goal by the end of June.