It appears as though two recent cases of COVID-19 in the Harbour Breton area may be linked to a case that public health officials were not previously aware of.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald provided the update today.

The two cases involve staff at the health centre in Harbour Breton, including a health care worker. Dr. Fitzgerald says the cases are what public health officials refer to as non-epidemiologically linked cases.

It indicates that there is or was a case of COVID-19 that they did not know about. That might involve someone who did not have symptoms, who may have left the province before they were diagnosed, or they may have assumed they had a cold and didn’t seek testing.

That’s prompted Fitzgerald to issue another reminder to anyone experiencing symptoms to get testing. Enhanced precautions remain in Harbour Breton until public health officials are confident the risk of transmission is reduced.

Dr. Haggie announces deployment of rapid test kits to Harbour Breton @VOCMNEWS

— Richard Duggan (@RDugganVOCM) December 9, 2020

Nine New Recoveries, One New Case

There is one new confirmed case in the province today.

The case is travel-related and involves a man in the Eastern Health region, between the ages of 20 and 39, who is not a resident of this province. He came to Newfoundland and Labrador from Asia.

There have been nine new recoveries, leaving 20 active cases in the province.