New COVID-19 case linked to Gahcho Kué work site, another in Fort Liard
Fort Liard case related to travel outside N.W.T., and not linked to earlier outbreak in community
The N.W.T. government announced two more confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the territory late Monday evening — one in Fort Liard, and the other linked to an outbreak at the Gahcho Kué winter road satellite work site.
The Fort Liard case is related to travel outside the territory, according to a government news release, and it is not related to a cluster of cases identified in that community last month.
Fort Liard was put under a two-week containment order after a cluster of cases appeared in the community in mid-January. A total of six cases were confirmed, all of which have since recovered.
The containment order was lifted on Saturday night.
Monday's news release says the new case in Fort Liard is considered a low risk for further transmission in the community. The affected person is isolating and doing well, and the public health investigation has identified limited contacts, the release says.
New case linked to winter road camp
The Gahcho Kué case is connected to two other cases confirmed earlier at the remote winter road camp.
The camp is operated by a contractor hired to build the winter road and is located more than 40 kilometres away from the Gahcho Kué mine site.
The news release says there has been no contact between workers at the winter road camp and the mine site.
Health officials say they have not identified any risk to any community from this outbreak at the work site.
"All workers are either isolating offsite, or working independently to maintain site safety until a new crew arrives," the news release states.
"The remote winter road camp is undergoing a deep cleaning and sanitization before the new crew travels to the site."
Earlier on Monday, the government announced another new case of COVID-19 at the Gahcho Kué mine site. The mine, which is owned by De Beers, is located 280 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife.
As of Tuesday, the territory had seen 50 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 15 of those being non-N.W.T. residents. Forty-three of those 50 cases are considered resolved.
N.W.T. health officials are scheduled to provide an update on COVID-19 in the territory at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.