N.L. expands public health restrictions, reports 45 new COVID-19 cases as cluster grows
Newfoundland and Labrador reported 45 new COVID-19 cases Friday -- the highest daily number of new infections in the province since Feb. 19, when an outbreak in St. John's delayed the provincial election.
The province's acting chief medical officer of health said a cluster that began in a personal care home in Baie Verte, N.L., on the northeast coast, has spread to neighbouring communities.
Public health is asking residents not to travel into and out of the affected region -- which now includes the town Twillingate, N.L., and the surrounding area -- unless it's absolutely necessary, Dr. Rosann Seviour told reporters.
"The fourth wave unfortunately has reached our shores," Seviour said. "We have stared down the face of COVID before, and we will do it again."
There were 109 active reported COVID-19 infections in the province -- a number Health Minister John Haggie on Friday called "a threshold we had hoped we wouldn't see again." Seventy of those active cases are connected to the outbreak in the Baie Verte area, and 21 of those infections are breakthrough cases -- or infections affecting people who were fully vaccinated, Seviour said.
Vaccination rates on the province's northeast coast are low, she noted, with just over 70 per cent of eligible residents fully immunized. By contrast, nearly 80 per cent of all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians had two doses of vaccine as of Tuesday, government data shows. With the Delta variant fuelling the outbreak, those numbers simply are not high enough, Seviour said.
"Delta is a different beast," she said, adding that the vaccination rate needed to stave off outbreaks is higher with the Delta variant because it is so much more transmissible. "It has been an eye-opener across this country."
There are active COVID-19 infections at four schools across the province, including 10 cases at an all-grades school near Summerford, N.L., where in-person learning was suspended, officials said.
Heightened public health measures restricting social gatherings and household bubbles will expand from the Baie Verte peninsula to Twillingate and surrounding communities at midnight Friday night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors ask Liberal government to reconsider capital gains tax change
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.
Keeping these exotic pets is 'cruel' and 'dangerous,' Canadian animal advocates say
Canadian pet owners are finding companionship beyond dogs and cats. Tigers, alligators, scorpions and tarantulas are among some of the exotic pets they are keeping in private homes, which pose risks to public safety and animal welfare, advocates say.
Prince William and wife Kate thank public for birthday messages for son Louis
Prince William and his wife Kate thanked the public for their messages which had been sent to mark the sixth birthday of their youngest son Louis on Tuesday.
She was the closest she'd ever been to meeting her biological father. Then life dealt her a blow
Anne Marie Cavner was the closest she'd ever been to meeting her biological father, but then life dealt her a blow. From an unexpected loss to a host of new relationships, a DNA test changed her life, and she doesn't regret a thing.
How quietly promised law changes in the 2024 federal budget could impact your day-to-day life
The 2024 federal budget released last week includes numerous big spending promises that have garnered headlines. But, tucked into the 416-page document are also series of smaller items, such as promising to amend the law regarding infant formula and to force banks to label government rebates, that you may have missed.
Which foods have the most plastics? You may be surprised
'How much plastic will you have for dinner, sir? And you, ma'am?' While that may seem like a line from a satirical skit on Saturday Night Live, research is showing it's much too close to reality.
'Catch-and-kill' strategy to be a focus as testimony resumes in Trump hush money case
A veteran tabloid publisher was expected to return to the witness stand Tuesday in Donald Trump's historic hush money trial.
Quebec farmers have been protesting since December. Is anyone listening?
Upset about high interest rates, growing paperwork and heavy regulatory burdens, protesting farmers have become a familiar sight across Quebec since December.
South Korean sentenced to 14 months in jail for killing 76 cats
South Korean man has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for killing 76 cats in one of the country's most gruesome cases of animal cruelty in recent years.