Minister of Health and Social Services Diane Thom has extended the territory-wide Public Health Emergency under the Northwest Territories’ Public Health Act on the advice of Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Kami Kandola. The latest extension runs through September 1st.
The GNWT notes that the Public Health Emergency remains necessary in order to respond decisively to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as reintroduction is most likely to occur as a result of travel from locales with community transmission.
They add that the risk to the NWT remains significant as increases in cases in southern Canada continue to grow – particularly within the NWT’s closest provincial neighbours.
With self-isolation plans filed reaching more than 900 last week, travel to the territory by returning residents, and others coming to live, work, or study continue to grow. Additional entries into the territory include those exercising traditional harvesting rights and those servicing supply-chains – though with significant additional precautions when they are here.
The GNWT is reminding everyone that travel within the NWT is restricted upon arrival with limited exceptions. It is an offense to travel within the NWT without an exemption under the Public Health Orders. Everyone entering the NWT is required to self-isolate for 14 days in Yellowknife, Inuvik, Hay River or Fort Smith with few exceptions – no matter how long your trip out of the territory is.
