N.W.T. declares COVID-19 outbreak at Snare Hydro Systems worksite, reports 16 new cases across territory
The N.W.T. office of the chief public health officer (OCPHO) declared a COVID-19 outbreak at the NWT Power Corporation's Snare Hydro System worksite after two cases were identified.
In a Wednesday night news release, the OCPHO said one of the infected individuals acquired COVID-19 on site while the other one acquired the disease elsewhere. An outbreak is declared in a closed facility when at least one case is acquired on site.
The Snare Hydro System includes four separate hydro plants on the Snare River, about 140 km northwest of Yellowknife.
The OCPHO said that it concluded no N.W.T. community was exposed to COVID-19 as a result of the outbreak.
Since September, there have been two COVID-19 cases introduced at the Ekati diamond mine, and one each at the Gahcho Kué mine, the Diavik mine and the Imperial Oil facility in Norman Wells. All the cases came from out-of-territory workers and there have been no documented transmission from any of these cases to date.
The cases at the Gahcho Kué mine and the Diavik mine remain active while the others have been resolved.
Territorial case count rises
The N.W.T. also reported 16 new COVID-19 cases across the territory.
The overall active case count stands at 199, a slight increase from yesterday's figure of 185.
The majority of cases continues to be in Yellowknife where 128 cases are being reported, an increase of seven from Tuesday.
Behchokǫ̀ has the second most cases with 30, an increase of one since Tuesday. There are 23 reported cases in Whatì, three more than Tuesday.
The number of cases continues to decline in the Sahtu where only eight were reported Wednesday, a drop of two from Tuesday. There are now only two communities in the region reporting cases, Fort Good Hope with five and Norman Wells with three.
Other communities that have active cases are Łutselkʼe with three, Fort Providence and Hay River/K'atl'odeeche First Nation with two each, and Inuvik, Fort Resolution and Fort Liard with one each.
