All regions of the province outside the Avalon Peninsula will move to Alert Level 4 as of midnight tonight.
There are four new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the province today—three in the Eastern Health region and one in Central Health.
There are 52 new recoveries, leaving 287 active cases with eleven people in hospital.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says because there is still a risk of community spread in the Avalon region, all residents in that part of the province will remain in Alert Level 5 for the next two weeks. It will be reassessed at that time, says Fitzgerald.
In the meantime, travel into and out of the Avalon region should be avoided. Because indications are that the outbreak has not led to community spread outside the Avalon, restrictions will be eased in other areas of the province.
In the meantime, under Alert Level 4, instead of the “Double Bubble” introduced in the spring, Fitzgerald is asking people to stick to their own bubble unless at work or school. She’s asking people to limit contacts outside their bubble to a minimum.
She says they’ve learned a lot since last year and have found that a lot of “quick and easy transmission” is happening within small social groups.