Northern Sask. residents asked to restrict non-essential travel
Northern residents are being advised to avoid all non-essential travel out of the Northern Saskatchewan Administrative District until the end of February to slow the spread of the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s really a concern for us in relation to how this could potentially distort our society and also overwhelm our health system’s capacity,” said Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority (NITHA) Medical Health Officer Dr. Nnamdi Ndubuka.
Medical health officers for the Athabasca Health Authority and NITHA say they were prompted by an increase in COVID-19 case numbers.
As of Jan. 20, there are 223 active COVID-19 infections in NITHA communities. Ndubuka says there are an average of 40 new cases per day.
Travel between communities within the district should also be for essential services only.
“Now that Omicron is the dominant strain in the province, we’re seeing a fairly rapid increase in cases,” said Ndubuka.
He says the Omicron variant is highly contagious and easily transmissible. Many of the positive cases are linked to travel outside northern communities to areas in the south, and out-of-province.
He estimates there are actually double the reported cases, due to people who have tested positive with rapid test kits and are self-isolating.
“Plus, the PCR positive results will really double if not more. So we have not seen the peak yet.”
Ndubuka says the fifth wave is “distressing” to the healthcare system because of the high caseload and absenteeism at workplaces.
He encourages people to get three doses of the vaccine, avoid gathering, stay home if they feel ill and test themselves with rapid test kits three times a week.
Among those positive cases in NITHA, 46 per cent are not vaccinated, 29 percent are fully vaccinated, 17 are ineligible for vaccination and eight percent are partially vaccinated.
He says there have been fewer hospital admissions with Omicron and no new patients have been admitted to hospital in the last eight weeks.
So far, 48 people in the NITHA health area have died following COVID-19 infection.
Correction
This article has been updated with the correct number of new daily cases.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.