Northwest Territories now has 87 active Covid-19 cases

The Northwest Territories on Wednesday reported 87 active Covid-19 cases, most of them in the Yellowknife area, in its first update since Christmas.

In a short statement, the territory’s Covid-19 Secretariat said there had been 68 new cases documented since the previous update on Christmas Eve.

There were no new hospitalizations or deaths, the territory said. The deaths of 12 people in the NWT have been attributed to Covid-19 since the pandemic began.

According to the NWT government, there are currently 72 active cases in Yellowknife, Ndilǫ, and Dettah. A further eight are in Fort Smith.

The territory, choosing not to provide a full community-by-community breakdown, said there were three active cases in Tłı̨chǫ communities, two in the Sahtu, and two in the Beaufort Delta.

There was no update regarding the variant responsible for the most recent cases, though the NWT’s chief public health officer has acknowledged the likelihood that most will be the new, fast-spreading Omicron variant of the virus responsible for Covid-19.

Dr Kami Kandola has expressed concern that holiday travel will see the Omicron variant imported into the territory in significant numbers, and has urged people returning to the NWT to treat their first three days after travel with extreme caution, avoiding gatherings and any “high-risk activities.”

Since December 13, 14 separate flights have been tagged by the territory as Covid-19 exposure sites.