PEI Joins Newfoundland and Labrador in Establishing a Period of Isolation for Visitors | The Canadian News

Prince Edward Island has joined Newfoundland and Labrador in announcing isolation requirements for all visitors in an attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19 and the Omicron variant.

Prime Minister Dennis King told a news conference Tuesday that starting Wednesday at 8 a.m., anyone arriving on the island from outside the province will have to isolate themselves for four days.

King said each traveler entering the province will be given two rapid tests and will be asked to complete them on the second and fourth days of their isolation. The prime minister said that all bars and restaurants in the province should stop serving customers at 11 pm each night.

“To get back to normal in our province, we have to do this,” he said. “We need to limit travel, we have to limit our personal interactions. This is not the time for parties, meetings or staff celebrations. “

The province reported 29 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total number of active infections to 112. Dr. Heather Morrison, director of public health, said four of the new cases involve people who are not permanent residents of the province. PEI, adding that they are all isolated.

In the last seven days, the province has identified 115 new cases of the new coronavirus, more than a fifth of the total cases since the pandemic began. Those include 18 cases of the Omicron variant, Morrison said. He said a large number of people are now isolating themselves as a result of being close contacts of confirmed cases, including 125 students from three schools on the island.

She said modeling in other jurisdictions indicates that Omicron will “very quickly” overtake Delta as the dominant variant.

“We really have to assume that our cases here at PEI and any new cases are the Omicron variant,” Morrison said. “We are in the early days of managing this variant. We can expect to see further rapid increases in cases over the next one to two months. “

1:30COVID-19: It is not yet clear if vaccines need adjustments to address Omicron variant, says EMA

Elsewhere in the Atlantic region, people visiting Newfoundland and Labrador will need to self-isolate for five days starting at 3 p.m.

Tuesday. Under the travel regimen announced Sunday, travelers will also need to take a rapid COVID-19 test on each of those five days, and family members can isolate themselves with them.

The moves come as the four prime ministers of Atlantic Canada urge the public to exercise caution during the holiday season to slow the spread of COVID-19. The appeal was issued in a statement following a teleconference held Monday by New Brunswick Prime Minister Blaine Higgs.

Prime ministers stressed the importance of following public health guidelines to reduce the threat of hospitals in the region being overwhelmed by seriously ill COVID-19 patients.

This Canadian Press report was first published on December 21, 2021.