For 10th time, NWT’s public health emergency is extended

The Northwest Territories government is extending the territory-wide public health emergency – enacted to address the Covid-19 pandemic – for the 10th time.

Diane Thom, the minister of health and social services, made the announcement in a Wednesday news release. Legislation dictates the emergency must be ended or renewed every two weeks.

Declaring a public health emergency equips the chief public health officer with the powers necessary to make orders creating rules for self-isolation, travel restrictions and the like.

“The public health emergency remains necessary in order to respond decisively to needs for personal protective equipment, isolation space, enforcement, and travel checkpoints which are essential to the territory’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” read an NWT government statement.

“The risk to the NWT remains high as there has been a recent increase in cases in southern Canada. With upwards of 700 new self-isolation plans filed a week, we have a significant amount of people joining us to live, work, or study.

“Reintroduction is most likely to occur as a result of travel from locales with community transmission. Self-isolation protocols and monitored travel are our best defence from these cases growing into outbreaks.”

There is no change to any of the existing public health orders governing travel and isolation.