A seventh case of Covid-19 has been confirmed in Fort Liard, unrelated to the six January cases that all arose from one cluster.
In an advisory issued late on Monday, the territorial government said the new case was instead connected to travel outside the NWT. It comes three days after the last of the first six patients had recovered.
“Limited contacts have been identified by public health. The individual has been self-isolating appropriately since their return,” said the territorial government, adding the seventh patient was doing well.
There was no immediate suggestion that Fort Liard would return to a containment order. A two-week order that banned gatherings and shut down businesses in response to the initial cluster was lifted on Saturday.
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Hillary Deneron, Fort Liard’s mayor, had posted news of the seventh case to Facebook earlier on Monday evening. She urged residents to keep working to contain the virus.
“I know our two-week verbal containment order was lifted as of Saturday at 10pm, and everyone was happy to be somewhat back to our normal day-to-day lives, in and out of stores, travelling and visiting,” Deneron wrote.
“I am asking for everyone in our community to continue to be cautious … we did this once, and we will do it again FTL,” she concluded, using an abbreviation for Fort Liard.
The NWT government said the risk of further transmission from the latest case was low. All contacts had been provided isolation advice and public health staff will follow up, the territory added.
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Third case connected to winter road camp
Meanwhile, a third Covid-19 case related to a Gahcho Kué winter road camp was also confirmed on Monday evening.
Confusingly, both the Gahcho Kué mine and the winter road work camp – entirely different locations, separated by some 40 kilometres with no shared staff – reported one new case each on Monday.
The winter road camp itself is undergoing a deep clean. The latest case was a contact associated with the initial outbreak, diagnosed through routine follow-up testing. The patient was said to be doing well.
No risk to any community was identified.
