Nova Scotia restricts out-of-province sports-related travel for kids 11 and younger
Nova Scotia is restricting out-of-province travel by children 11 years of age and younger who want to participate in events related to sports, arts and culture.
Effective immediately, individuals, businesses and organizations in Nova Scotia are also prohibited from hosting sports, arts and cultural events involving out-of-province children aged 11 and younger.
Nova Scotia's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Robert Strang, said Wednesday in a news release that cases of COVID-19 are spreading among children through sports and cultural events, adding that the restrictions are needed until enough children are vaccinated.
“I strongly encourage parents to book vaccination appointments for their children as soon as possible," said Strang. "It is our best defence against this virus and our best path forward to living with fewer restrictions.”
Officials say the travel restriction will remain in place until at least early January, when it will be re-evaluated.
Strang says children are still able to participate in regular practices, lessons or rehearsals for sports, arts and culture events, adding these gatherings are lower risk because childen are interacting with the same group all the time.
"This is about going to actual games, competitions and performances," added Strang.
The first shots of the pediatric Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are being made available beginning Thursday at pharmacies in the province and at the IWK Health Centre.
Strang has said there is enough capacity within the health system to administer first doses before Christmas to 80 per cent of the children who are eligible.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 1, 2021.
With files from CTV Atlantic.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
Canada's favourite sport to watch is hockey, survey shows
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have already delivered a fever level of fan excitement in Canada.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
NASA hears from Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, after months of quiet
NASA has finally heard back from Voyager 1 again in a way that makes sense. The most distant spacecraft from Earth hadn't sent home any understandable data since last November.