Three new cases, four recoveries announced Thursday
Sources of latest cases identified, but Public Health couldn’t determine infection origin of a case earlier this month
In most instances during the COVID-19 pandemic, information-gathering and contact-tracing have meant Public Health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador have been able to determine the infection source of COVID-19 cases reported in the province.
For example, all three cases announced Thursday already have had their sources identified.
But it hasn’t led to a 100 per cent success rate. In Thursday’s provincial COVID-19 news release, the same one detailing the three new confirmed cases, Public Health officials said they have ended their investigation into a case first announced two weeks ago without having been able to pinpoint the source.
“This is called a non-epidemiologically linked case and indicates that there is, or was, an unknown case of COVID19,” said the news releases about this particular case, first reported in the Eastern Health region on April 8.
“This could happen for any number of reasons, including the individual (who had been the source) may have been asymptomatic and recovered; the individual may have left the province; or the individual did not seek testing.”
Two of the new cases revealed Thursday involve a woman (20-39 age group) and male (under 20) in the Western Health region who were both close contacts of a previous known case.
Thursday’s third case is that of a man (60-69) in the Eastern region and is related to travel in Canada.
Because of that case, Public Health officials have issued an advisory about possible exposure to COVID-19 on a plane that arrived in St. John’s earlier this week. Passengers who travelled on Air Canada Flight 8996 that departed Halifax and arrived in St. John’s on Tuesday have been told they should arrange for testing.
With four new recoveries in the province, the active COVID-19 count drops back a bit to 26. Of that number, 15 are in the Eastern Health region, 10 are in the Western Health region and one is in Central.
There was also an advisory on Thursday regarding potential exposures to COVID-19 at worksites in Alberta that employ people from this province.
The sites include Cenovus Foster Creek, Suncor Fort Hills and Syncrude Aurora. Workers with these projects who have returned to Newfoundland and Labrador in the last 14 days must arrange testing and complete the full 14-day self-isolation period, regardless of the test result.