There are 17 new confirmed COVID cases in the province today.
Twelve are in the Western Health region, eight of which are contacts of previous cases and are connected to the outbreak. Four are in the Central Health region—three of which are contacts of previous cases and are connected to the cluster. One case in Eastern Health is connected to travel.
That leaves 90 active cases in the province, with one person in hospital.
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While Public Health is awaiting the results of whole-genome sequencing on samples from the Western Health outbreak, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says preliminary results are in, deeming the outbreak to be due to the B.1617.2 variant.
In the meantime, the province is moving forward with an accelerated schedule for the administration of the second dose of vaccine. Thanks to the increased availability of vaccines, the province is now shortening the interval between first and second doses from 16 weeks to eight.
Notifications on how people will be moved up for second doses will be coming out by the end of this week.
Residents who received a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine are now being offered two options base on emerging evidence. They include going ahead with a second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, or one of the mRNA vaccines—either Pfizer or Moderna.
Patients may want to check with their health care provider in making the decision, but both options are proven to offer good protection from COVID-19, says Fitzgerald.
