ATLANTIC

Nova Scotia reports no new COVID-19 cases Saturday; five active cases

Allan April CTVNewsAtlantic.ca writer

Published Saturday, August 29, 2020 11:27AM ADT Last Updated Saturday, August 29, 2020 11:30AM ADT

A laboratory technical assistant at LifeLabs, handles a specimen to be tested for COVID-19 after scanning its barcode upon receipt at the company's lab, in Surrey, B.C., on March 26, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

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HALIFAX -- Nova Scotia is reporting no new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, as the number of active cases in the province remains at five.

The QEII Health Sciences Centre's microbiology lab completed 661 Nova Scotia tests on Friday.

The provincial government confirmed to CTV News that there has been an increase in the number of COVID-19 tests conducted this week as post-secondary students arrive in Nova Scotia.

The province announced last week that all university and NSCC students from outside the Atlantic provinces will be tested for COVID-19 three times during their 14-day self-isolation period.

To date, Nova Scotia has 74,498 negative test results.

There are now 1,083 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, but 1,013 cases are considered resolved, and 65 people have died, leaving five active cases in the province.

Among the 65 Nova Scotians who died from COVID-19 are 53 residents of the Northwood long-term care home in Halifax. The outbreak at Northwood is considered resolved.

No one is currently in hospital as a result of COVID-19.

The province's confirmed cases range in age from under 10 to over 90.

Sixty-one per cent of cases are female and 39 per cent are male.

OUTBREAK IN NORTHERN ZONE

Previous to the no new cases identified Saturday, the province reported two new cases of COVID-19 in the Nova Scotia Health Authority’s northern zone on Friday.

The provincial government said Friday that the new cases are connected to previously-reported cases.

No other details about the cases have been released.

On Wednesday, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang confirmed there have been three small clusters of COVID-19 cases in Nova Scotia over the past two weeks -- all of which originated in the northern zone.

Strang said one cluster involved someone who travelled from outside the Atlantic provinces to visit family and did not self-isolate.

Strang confirmed three other people, including a close contact and two people who were at a restaurant at the same time as the infected person, contracted COVID-19.

The other two clusters involve workers.

In one case, two foreign workers who travelled to Nova Scotia from another country tested positive for COVID-19. However, Strang said the workers self-isolated and no one else was exposed.

The third cluster involves someone who travelled to Nova Scotia for work and later tested positive in their home province. Three people who were close contacts in Nova Scotia also tested positive for COVID-19.

The province didn’t specify Friday whether the two new cases are connected to the person who failed to self-isolate or to the worker.

The northern zone has now seen a total of 67 cases of COVID-19.

There are cases confirmed across the province, but most have been identified in the central zone, which contains the Halifax Regional Municipality.

The provincial government says cumulative cases by zone may change as data is updated in Panorama, the province’s electronic information system.

The numbers reflect where a person lives, and not where their sample was collected.

western zone: 54 cases
central zone: 909 cases
northern zone: 67 cases
eastern zone: 53 cases

SYMPTOMS AND SELF-ISOLATION

Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 is required to self-isolate at home, away from the public, for 14 days.

Anyone who travels to Nova Scotia from outside the Atlantic region is also required to self-isolate for 14 days and must fill out a self-declaration form before coming to the province.

Residents of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador are not required to self-isolate when travelling to Nova Scotia, but they must be prepared to provide proof of their place of residency at provincial borders.

Visitors from outside the Atlantic region who have already self-isolated in another Atlantic province for 14 days may travel to Nova Scotia without having to self-isolate again.

Anyone who experiences one of the following symptoms is encouraged to take an online test to determine if they should call 811 for further assessment: