The provincial government has been made aware of an outbreak of COVID-19 at yet another work camp in the Alberta oil sands – leading to another directive for Newfoundland and Labrador workers returning to the province.

The information comes after two new confirmed COVID cases were reported in the province yesterday, one of which is connected to an outbreak at Kearl Lake in Alberta.

Both cases are in the Eastern Health region. The second case is still under investigation, but is not connected to the self-isolation of over 100 staff at the Health Sciences Centre. They are the first new cases reported in the province in nearly a week.

That brings the total number of confirmed cases in the province to 261. 244 people have recovered.

Yesterday the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, confirmed that public health officials have been notified of another outbreak at a worksite in Alberta, this one at the Richardson work camp on the Horizon work site.

She’s asking Newfoundlanders and Labradorians returning from the work site to self-isolate immediately and contact 811 for further instruction.

She says there are several hundred people who live outside Alberta at the worksite, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are almost certainly among them.

Guidelines Clarified for Temporary-Foreign Workers

Meanwhile, Dr. Fitzgerald is clearing the air around policies for temporary-foreign workers entering the province.

She says there is an order that all of those workers must self-isolate for two-weeks prior to starting work in the province, and their employers must submit an isolation plan for them.

The Premier reminds people it is a federal program, and in this case, businesses would have to apply.

The Premier says he understands all temporary-foreign workers are tested before they begin their travel to Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador.