N.S. reports one death, 14 new cases

Nova Scotia reported one death and 14 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday.

The death occurred at Northwood long-term care home in Halifax. The province has reported 38 deaths in total from the virus, 32 of which have been at Northwood.

"I offer my condolences to the family who is grieving the loss of their loved one today," Premier Stephen Mcneil said in a release Monday.

"We must remain vigilant, especially around our longterm care homes, to protect residents and staff. We have slowed the spread provincially, but we need to stay the course and continue to follow the public health protocols."

As of Monday, Nova Scotia has 985 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The QEII Health Sciences Centre's microbiology lab, which is operating 24 hours a day, completed 455 tests Sunday.

The province has 30,441 negative test results to date. People with confirmed cases range in age from under 10 to over 90. Six individuals are currently in hospital, two of those in ICU, and 638 individuals have now recovered and their cases of COVID-19 are considered resolved.

Cases have been identified in all parts of the province. A map and graphic presentation of the case data is available at https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus/data.

As of Sunday, there were 10 licensed long-term care homes and unlicensed seniors facilities in Nova Scotia with cases of COVID-19, involving 239 residents and 111 staff.

"It is important everyone recognizes Nova Scotia continues to see new cases of COVID-19 — we are not out of the woods," said Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health.

"Now is not the time to let our guard down. Please continue to do all you can to help slow the spread of this virus by following public health orders and advice."

The health department advises Nova Scotians who have two or more symptoms that include fever, a new or worsening cough, sore throat, runny nose and headache to visit https://811.novascotia.ca to determine if an 811 call for further assessment is necessary.

Public health is working to identify and test people who may have come in close contact with confirmed cases. Those individuals who have been confirmed are being directed to self-isolate at home, away from the public, for 14 days.

Anyone who has travelled outside Nova Scotia must self-isolate for 14 days. As always, any Nova Scotian who develops symptoms of acute respiratory illness should limit their contact with others until they feel better.

Nova Scotians are advised to adhere to public health orders and directives — to practise good hygiene, maintain a physical distance of two metres or six feet from others, limit essential gatherings to no more than five people and stay at home as much as possible.

Despite such warnings, Halifax Regional Police issued seven tickets for violations of the Health Protection Act over the weekend.

In total, HRP has ticketed 159 since the province declared a state of emergency and responded to a total of 1,513 COVID-19 related calls.

Most of the citations were in relation to being in prohibited areas.