Today (Thursday, February 17), there are 16 people in hospital because of COVID-19, 11 in non-critical care and five in critical care. There have been 261 new recoveries – 180 in the Eastern Health region, 42 in the Central Health region, 24 in the Western Health region and 15 in the Labrador-Grenfell region, and 19,246 people have recovered.
Newfoundland and Labrador has 316 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the last update on February 16. Anyone who has tested positive must follow guidelines as outlined here. Cases are advised to notify contacts as per instructions on the website. A flowchart with instructions for close contacts can be found here.
The breakdown of the 316 cases is as follows:
- Eastern Health region – 224
- Central Health region – 37
- Western Health region – 41
- Labrador-Grenfell Health region – 14
There are currently 1,750 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. The regional breakdown of the active cases is as follows:
- Eastern Health – 1,268
- Central Health – 144
- Labrador-Grenfell Health – 105
- Western Health – 233
A total of 1,264 tests were completed since yesterday. To date, 499,517 tests have been administered. People can check their COVID-19 test results online here.
Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting its sixty-first death from COVID-19. The individual is a female between 70-79 years of age in the Western Health region. The department is sending its condolences to the family of this individual and asks everyone to respect the family’s privacy at this time.
Public Health announced on February 16, 2022, a phased approach to lifting long-term public health restrictions. By March 14, 2022, provided epidemiology remains favourable, all restrictions will be lifted, including capacity limits, masking, and proof of vaccination requirements. More information on planned measures can be found here.
Public Health has revised support person/visitor restrictions at all provincially operated acute care facilities, health centres and long-term care homes, as well as privately operated long-term care homes, personal care homes and community care homes. Effective February 10, 2022, two support persons/visitors for each patient/resident are permitted at these facilities. Information regarding the changes can be found here.
Anyone that is a close contact of a case and has symptoms of COVID-19, and anyone testing positive on a rapid test, should consider themselves a positive case and follow public health direction found here. They do not need any PCR testing to confirm. Employers are asked not to require a PCR test for this category of individuals.
PCR tests are still recommended for non-household close contacts who are fully vaccinated and do not have symptoms, and anyone that has symptoms but has not been identified as a close contact of someone that tested positive for COVID-19. Our Self-Isolation Assessment Tool can help you determine if you need to self-isolate or get tested.
As of February 5, 2022, there is no isolation for fully vaccinated travellers; however, they are required to take one rapid test each day for five days. There are no changes to the requirements for partially vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers.
All travellers coming to Newfoundland and Labrador, including Newfoundland and Labrador residents, are required to fill out a travel form found here. The travel form can be completed up to 30 days prior to the travel date. Please submit proof of your COVID-19 vaccination by uploading it to your form. Further information for those travelling to the province, including isolation and testing requirements, can be found here.
The most up to date vaccine data and the number of vaccine doses administered is on the provincial COVID-19 data hub. Information on COVID-19 vaccines for Newfoundland and Labrador is available online here. Additional information on the COVID-19 vaccination rollout is on the websites for each of the regional health authorities:
Eastern Health
Central Health
Western Health
Labrador-Grenfell Health
Please continue following the proven Public Health measures in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For the most up-to-date information related to COVID-19, please visit www.gov.nl.ca/covid-19.
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Media contact
Nancy Hollett
Health and Community Services
709-729-6554, 327-7878
nancyhollett@gov.nl.ca