COVID-19: NS Reports 611 New Cases, Renewed State of Emergency – Halifax | The Canadian News

Nova Scotia reported 611 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.

There are 393 cases in the Central Zone, 60 cases in the Eastern Zone, 59 cases in the North Zone and 99 cases in the Western Zone.

In a statement, the province said there is a new case reported at Parkstone Enhanced Care in Halifax. A total of two residents and two members of the facility’s staff have tested positive so far and no one is in the hospital.

On December 23, 11 schools were notified of an exposure to COVID-19 at their school. A list of schools with exhibitions is available online.

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Changes to the NS COVID-19 testing program begin next week

As of Friday, there are an estimated 4,266 active cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia. Of these, 15 people are in the hospital, including four in the ICU.

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NSHA labs completed 8,897 tests the day before.

125,529 rapid tests were administered between December 17 and 23. This includes 8,848 rapid tests at emerging sites in Halifax and surrounding communities and 116,681 through the workplace screening program.

Another 134,304 home rapid tests were distributed to the emerging sites.

Nova Scotia announced Friday that it will make changes to its COVID-19 testing program and case management system next week as the province continues to report large numbers of infections caused by the Omicron variant.


Click to play video: 'Reactions to Nova Scotia changing its COVID-19 testing strategy'



Reactions to Nova Scotia changing its COVID-19 testing strategy


Reactions to Nova Scotia changing its COVID-19 testing strategy

In a statement, Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief physician, said Nova Scotia’s priority for PCR testing should be on the people who are most vulnerable to disease and the people who work in caring for health, “but everyone who needs a COVID-19 test will get one.”

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Rapid tests should now be used primarily when someone has symptoms or identifies as close contacts. Strang noted that the collection limits have now been limited to a constant group of 10 people, “so it shouldn’t be necessary to do a lot of testing for social occasions.”

As of Thursday, 1,763,416 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered. Of these, 793,666 Nova Scotians have received their second dose and 109,333 eligible Nova Scotians have received a third dose.

The province said it is renewing the state of emergency “to protect the health and safety of Nova Scotians and to ensure that security measures and other important actions can continue.”

The order will go into effect at noon on Sunday, December 26, and will run until noon on Sunday, January 9, 2022, unless canceled or extended by the government.

– With files from Alex Cooke

© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.



Reference-globalnews.ca

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