New restrictions were announced along with 10 new cases of COVID-19 at today’s Provincial COVID-19 Briefing.
The new rules affect specific areas of the province that include; areas of HRM up to and including Porters Lake, as well as the communities of Enfield, Elmsdale, Mount Uniacke and Hubbards.
Effective as of 8 a.m. on Saturday, February 27, restaurants in those regions will have to stop serving at 9 p.m. and close by 10 p.m.
Social events, performances and sports games will not be allowed to take place for at least four weeks. Excluded from the new restrictions are weddings, funerals and sports practices.
Nova Scotians are also being asked to avoid all non-essential travel within the province and elsewhere, especially to and from the restricted areas of HRM, Hants and Lunenburg counties.
Effective Monday, March 1, three COVID-19 tests are required for rotational workers, specialized workers, and parents and children whose child custody visits involve travel outside Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island. A new child custody protocol details more requirements for visits and for situations where a parent or child has symptoms or a positive test result.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang said during the briefing that the reason for the restrictions is three-fold, “The first concern is the sudden rise in cases, specifically in Halifax. The second is we have a number of cases where the infection source cannot be found and lastly we are seeing that many people are behaving as though we are not in a pandemic.”
The new restrictions are set to last until Friday, March 26, but the province says an extension is possible.
Nine of the new cases are in Central Zone. Five are close contacts of previously reported cases. Three are under investigation. The other case is related to travel outside Atlantic Canada. The person is self-isolating, as required.
The number of active cases was not announced at Friday’s briefing but Dr. Strang says next Tuesdays’ Techincal Briefing will include more statistics and figures.
Both Premier Iain Ranking and Dr. Strang also reiterated the importance of not going out while feeling any COVID-19 symptoms.
They also asked that Nova Scotians remember that getting tested is crucially important at this time as case numbers continue to rise.
