The Northwest Territories chief public health officer says there has been no spread of Covid-19 in the territory after a worker at the Diavik Diamond Mine tested positive earlier this month.
According to a public health advisory issued by Dr Kami Kandola on Tuesday, Diavik’s medical team tested everyone who had contact with the the worker on days six and 10. All tests came back negative onsite and were confirmed by Alberta Precision Labs.
All contacts have since been released from isolation, the advisory states.
Diavik is working with public health on a transport plan to get the worker who tested positive home safely.
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No medical care was required in this case. The worker who tested positive did not interact with other NWT communities outside the mine.
Kandola said she is “confident” there is no ongoing risk of Covid-19 as a result of the positive case.
“If you know people returning to the community after rotation, you should feel confident that there is no reason to believe your community is at any additional risk because of it,” the advisory reads.
As the worker who tested positive is from Ontario, the case does not count towards the Northwest Territories’ Covid-19 numbers. The Public Health Agency of Canada requires cases to be reported based on an individual’s place of residence.
This is the second case of a Diavik worker from outside the NWT testing positive for Covid-19.
In July, an Alberta resident working at the same mine was confirmed to have tested positive. There was no spread of Covid-19 at the mine or elsewhere in the territory as a result of that case.
