A decision is coming soon on travel during the Christmas season but the continued surge of COVID cases outside the Atlantic bubble doesn’t appear to bode well for loosening restrictions anytime soon.

Health Minister John Haggie says it’s an ‘active topic’ within the department as officials monitor troubling trends elsewhere on the mainland.

He says he’d like to see family over Christmas as well, but the numbers of hospitalizations and infection rates in the larger provinces doesn’t give him much cause for optimism.

Haggie said a formal announcement regarding Christmas travel will be made within the next week or two.