13 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in N.W.T., new public exposure notice

Yellowknife's COVID-19 outbreak continues to grow with 13 confirmed cases added on Thursday, bringing the total number of active cases in the city to 47.

There's also three probable cases in the city.

Across the territory, there are 51 active cases, including two at the Ekati diamond mine and two at the Imperial Oil work site in Norman Wells, N.W.T.

Ten of the cases so far have tested positive to be the B117 variant, first identified in the United Kingdom.

There's a new public exposure notice issued in Yellowknife. Anyone who was at the waiting area of Bella Dance Academy on May 1 between 9:45 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. is considered a COVID-19 contact. They must self-isolate immediately for 14 days and arrange for testing.

After an outbreak was declared at Yellowknife's N.J. Machperson School last weekend, the Northwest Territories' daily case count has been higher than at any other time during the pandemic.

The outbreak has pushed more than 1,000 people into isolation, and sparked school closures in Yellowknife, Dettah, Ndilǫ and Behchokǫ̀.

On Thursday, the territory started administering doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to youth ages 12 to 17. The first doses were made available in Yellowknife due to the cluster of cases related to the school outbreak.

A full list of exposure notices can be found on the government's website.