There are six new COVID-19 cases reported throughout the NWT.
Three of the five confirmed diagnoses at Gahcho Kué mine are NWT residents and the other two individuals are out of territory workers.
The other case is in Yellowknife and is related to out-of-territory travel. The individual flew in from out of territory on February 12.
There is an exposure risk on the flight the individual took into Yellowknife: Canadian North flight number 238 from Edmonton to Yellowknife, for people who were sitting in rows 3 to 9.
There is no exposure risk for the Gahcho Kué cases as they were not contagious when flying in, according to NWT’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Kami Kandola.
The new cases were confirmed in individuals who are in quarantine at the mine or at an isolation centre in Yellowknife.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases related to the outbreak to 15. Three have recovered and 12 are active.
The Gahcho Kué mine was shut down after an outbreak was declared February 3.
As of February 16, 75 NWT workers are safely isolating in Yellowknife. There are 31 out of territory workers also safely self-isolating in Yellowknife.
“Deep cleaning on site has begun and the company plans to bring an industrial hygiene crew to site to undertake further sanitization prior to resuming operations,” Kandola added.
That brings the NWT’s total number of COVID-19 cases to 45.
