New cases continue to decline
HALIFAX, N.S. — Four new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Nova Scotia over the weekend, including one identified Friday in the eastern zone.
According to Nova Scotia Health and Wellness reports Saturday and Sunday, one positive case was reported in each of the province’s four zones.
As confirmed publicly by Eskasoni Chief Leroy Denny, the case in the eastern zone is on the Eskasoni First Nation and is related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada. The person is self-isolating as required.
The positive test results in the northern and western zones have been traced to travel outside of Atlantic Canada and the people involved in both cases are in self-isolation. The central zone case was reported Sunday and is still under investigation.
As of Sunday, Nova Scotia had a total of 41 cases of COVID-19.
Nova Scotia Health Authority labs completed 1,409 tests on Saturday after conducting 1,111 tests on Friday. As has become the norm, Premier Stephen McNeil and Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health, continued to urge Nova Scotians to follow public health protocols.
"It is encouraging to see low case numbers as we start a new phase of guidelines and restrictions tomorrow," said Premier Stephen McNeil. "We can do our part to contain the virus by following these protocols that are designed to keep our social gatherings small and our communities safe."
For his part, Strang urged residents to remain vigilant during the traditional time of family and social gatherings.
“Through the holiday season, we all need to make some sacrifices to prevent the virus from spreading," said Strang. "Let's show how much we care about each other and our communities by keeping our gatherings small and following all the public health measures."
The latest restrictions became effective at 12 a.m.
The measures include a limit of 10 people per house gathering, a ban on arts and culture events, organized sports, special events, social events and wedding and funeral receptions. Indoor gathering limits with social distancing are in effect for faith gatherings, wedding ceremonies and funeral services with venues permitted to host 50 per cent of their normal capacity up to a maximum of 100 people.
Restaurants and liquor-licenced establishments are only permitted to serve customers until 10 p.m. and must close by 11 p.m., retail stores must limit shoppers to 25 per cent of capacity, social-distancing protocols remain in effect in all shopping mall and lineups outside a store are limited to five people at a time.
Meanwhile, long-term care facilities are permitted have two designated caregivers to help residents with specific tasks such as personal care support, mobility or eating assistance. Designated caregivers can be family members, spouses, friends or other support people, and they must have had an established caregiving relationship with the resident before COVID19.
And visits to long-term care facilities can resume with a limited number of visitors. Those visits must be scheduled in advance.
Public schools and preprimary programs are closed through Jan. 10, while starting on Jan. 4 public schools and pre-primary programs will open to administrators, teachers and staff at the direction of the school.