ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — As she was wrapping up her preamble during Wednesday’s regular COVID-19 briefing, Chief Medical Officer Janice Fitzgerald had a brief-slip up, beginning to say there were no new cases in Newfoundland and Labrador, before quickly correcting herself and announcing — as she had done earlier in the briefing — that there were indeed two new positive tests to report.
The small mix-up was understandable since the majority of days in January have seen no new cases announced in the province. That included a four-day streak that ended with Wednesday’s revelation. In fact, this marks the first time in 2021 that there has been more than a single case reported in a single day.
Both of Wednesday’s confirmed cases — which bring N.L. to exactly 400 cases since the start of the pandemics — involve males in the Eastern Health region between 20-39 years of age.
One is related to international travel the individual is self-isolating and contact tracing is finished.
However, the source of the second infection is still under investigation, meaning contact tracing is still underway as the man self-isolates.
There were no recoveries since Tuesday, meaning the province has five active cases of COVID-19, including one who remains in hospital.
To date, 388 people in Newfoundland and Labrador have recovered from the virus, while 78,749 have been tested.
