COVID-19 testing will be ramped up in Nova Scotia in the wake of confirmed community spread in the province.
"This is expected and why the testing strategy continues to be adjusted," the Health Department said in a news release Saturday. "Part of that is increasing lab capacity. Processing at the lab is moving to 24/7 operations on Monday, April 6."
Community spread is the transmission of the virus among people who have not recently travelled.
The release Saturday did not specify how many cases are related to community spread. Previously only one case has been mentioned and on Friday, chief medical officer Dr. Robert Strang said 92 per cent of cases could be connected to travel.
A rise of 29 cases also was announced Saturday, the largest single-day jump so far during the pandemic. The increase brings the total in Nova Scotia to 236 cases.
Most of the cases, 154, are in the central zone while there are 35 cases in the western zone, 23 in the east and 24 in the northern zone.
Four people remain in hospital but the largest number of recoveries - 50 - were reported today on the province's coronavirus site.
The testing lab at the QEII Health Centre completed 800 tests on Friday, the release said. As of Saturday, 8,964 Nova Scotians have tested negative for the respiratory virus, which has killed over 61,00 people worldwide and infected over 1.1 million.
COVID-19 has been found in seniors' homes such as the Magnolia facility in Enfield. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to the virus.
On Friday, Premier Stephen McNeil and Strang stressed that the next two weeks will be critical in curbing the outbreak in Nova Scotia. The province has extended a state of emergency that levies fines for breaking public health orders such as social distancing and self-isolation.
"Stay the blazes home," the premier said at the daily COVID update news conference in Halifax.
His admonition already has become a catchphrase. The Halifax company Tidal Salt is selling "Stay the blazes home" T-shirts with all proceeds going to Feed Nova Scotia. Another company, My Home Apparel, is donating their T-shirt proceeds to the QEII Foundation's COVID response fund, Shelter Nova Scotia and Feed Nova Scotia.
The premier and Strang will give another COVID update Sunday at 3 p.m. It will be live-streamed at https://novascotia.ca/stayinformed/webcast.
