N.W.T. confirms 1 case of COVID-19 from inbound flight to Yellowknife

N.W.T. public health officials are advising passengers who were on a Westjet flight from Calgary to Yellowknife on Feb. 8 to contact their local health centre after one individual on the flight tested positive for COVID-19.

In a Thursday news release, the office of the chief public health officer said itworkedwith the airline to get the manifest of Monday's Westjet flight 3359 and then called "passengers who may have been sitting in affected seats directly."

It advised passengers whowere seated in rows twoto 15 to contact their local health centre if they haven't already been contacted by public health.

"No one else on the airplane is at risk of exposure," the statement says.

The release states that affected passengers need to continue to self-isolate for 14 days after their arrival as required, and that unless they are in a self-contained unit, other members oftheir household need to self-isolate as well.

It said the individual who tested positive is self-isolating and doing well.

Keep gatherings small

"We are now regularly seeing new cases of COVID-19 in the N.W.T. So far, they have been contained because people are taking the right steps to keep communities safe. But we can't assume that every instance of COVID-19 will be contained," reads the release.

It said one way of limiting the transmission of COVID-19 is to keep gatherings small.

It said the risk of COVID-19 is at its highest level since the pandemic began and the government isurging N.W.T. residents to continue to follow public health measures closely.

Those include keeping a physical distance of at least two metres, of having no more than five peopleinyour home, limiting organized indoor public gatherings to 25, and outdoor ones to 50.