HALIFAX -- Nova Scotia health officials say there is now one confirmed case of COVID-19 in the province and two new presumptive cases.
Monday’s announcement brings the total number of presumptive and positive cases in the province to five -- with four presumptive cases and one positive case reported.
The province said the two new presumptive cases are related and involve a man and woman in their 50s. They live in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
The Nova Scotia government says the man and woman were in close contact with individuals who have recently travelled outside Canada. They are recovering at home in self-isolation.
“They were at some events where there were people who had come from outside the country into those events. We’re in the process of exploring exactly what those events were, where they were, who exactly were at those events,” said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, during a news conference Monday.
“I can’t give you any more detail today because it’s under active investigation and follow-up, but that’s where we feel that their likely exposure was, because they themselves had not travelled outside of the province.”
Two other people in their household are also in self-isolation and are being tested.
The province says health officials have been in contact with the man and woman and are working to identify others who may have come in close contact with them.
Those people are also being directed to self-isolate at home, away from the public, for 14 days.
To date, Nova Scotia has completed 676 tests for COVID-19, with 671 negative results, and five presumptive and positive cases.
“We know over the weekend, we were running around 200 tests a day, so we can expect that volume and they’re going to turn into negatives or a few positives, so we’re seeing a lot of volume through our labs,” said Strang.
The province announced its first three presumptive COVID-19 cases on Sunday. The patients include a 61-year-old woman from Kings County who had been travelling in Australia, a 50-year-old man from the Halifax area who had been travelling in the United States, and a man in his 30s from Halifax who had been travelling throughout Europe.
One of the presumptive cases has since been confirmed to be positive.
The cases are not connected. All three individuals are self-isolating for 14 days at home.
Nova Scotians who have travelled outside Canada, or have been in close contact with someone who has travelled internationally, and are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms are now being asked to complete an online questionnaire before calling 811.
Meanwhile, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil says he will do whatever it takes to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“At this point, we’ll do whatever we have to do to protect public health,” said McNeil during Monday’s news conference.
“And if it’s in the best interest of public health we will be taking the authority that’s given to us -- me as the premier and Public Health -- to do whatever we have to, to protect the citizens of this province.”
McNeil says he isn’t ruling out the possibility that some businesses may have to close in the near future.
