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HALIFAX, N.S. —

Nova Scotia’s first three presumptive cases of COVID-19 include a woman in her 60s from Kings County and two men from HRM, one in his 50s and the other in his 30s.

All three returned from travelling abroad in the past week. The woman returned from Australia on March 8, the younger man returned from Europe on Tuesday, and the older man returned from California on Friday.

They all contacted 811 late last week and the lab notified the top officials late Saturday.

They are all now self-isolating at home and recovering.

Premier Stephen McNeil, Health Minister Randy Delorey, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang and Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed, deputy chief medical officer, announced the cases at a news conference in Halifax on Sunday afternoon.

“None of the three cases are connected to each other,” Strang said. “Extensive public health follow-up on all of the cases and their close contacts began (Saturday) night, as soon as we were notified of their cases. We’re able to say that there are a small number of Nova Scotians who were in close contact with these individuals – fortunately, a small number – and all those individuals are now being asked to quarantine themselves for 14 days and monitor their symptoms carefully and then call 811 if they develop symptoms suggestive of COVID.”

He said the provincial testing procedure has now reached a point where positive tests produced in Nova Scotia are considered accurate but they were still sent to the national microbiology lab in Winnipeg for confirmation.

Strang said confirmation could come as early as Sunday evening but if not then, by Monday.

As of Sunday, Nova Scotia has done 418 tests, all of them negative except for the three mentioned.

McNeil also announced further measures to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.

All long-term care facilities are closed to all visitors to limit exposure to vulnerable people.

All schools will be closed for at least two weeks after March break, which reverses an earlier decision to keep them open. All regulated child care centres will be closed from Tuesday to April 3. All March break camps are cancelled.

The premier also said if it looks like the public health is at risk, the school and child care closures will be extended.

The casinos in Halifax and Sydney were to close as of midnight Sunday night and all bars must shut down their VLTs. Businesses are also reminded to practice social distancing of two metres and restrict capacity to no more than 150 people.

It is now mandatory for anyone who has travelled outside of Canada to self-isolate for 14 days and monitor their health after they return. All public employees have been told anyone who can work from home should do so, effective immediately, McNeil said.

Public health inspectors will be at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport and the J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport starting Monday to inform travellers of their obligations and remind them of the process to follow should they start getting sick, which is to contact 811. The province is also working with border services to “beef up” the screening process, McNeil said. Information on the requirements will be posted on screens at the airports.

“We’re expecting a lot of Snowbirds to return to our province in the coming days,” McNeil said. “It will require all Nova Scotians to remind their loved ones they need to self-isolate for 14 days and if they are feeling ill to follow the public health advice.”

Delorey said the Nova Scotia Health Authority is taking steps to build capacity in the health care system in the wake of these presumptive positives.

“What this means is they will be taking steps to wind down services like education programs and face-to-face clinics to really focus their resources on urgent and emergency care services as they continue to, again, ensure that they have the capacity they need to respond to increased demand in our hospital system,” the health minister said.

Strang stressed that the province has a chance to “get out in front of this” with the combined efforts of everyone adhering to the recommended protective measures.

He once again emphasized hand-washing, cleaning of high-touch surfaces and avoiding touching your face and staying home if you’re feeling sick in any way.

“All of those are going to be critically important to minimize the spread of this virus,” he said.

“I fully appreciate that this is a huge change for people, a huge change in our communities, creates significant burdens on organizations, on families, but people, families and organizations are already stepping up to the plate, as the premier has said.”

The goal is to reduce the number of people who may get sick when COVID-19 reaches its peak and subsequently reduce the number of vulnerable people who could become critically ill, he said.

Watson-Creed stressed that people should not go through the 811 process before they are showing symptoms, because the test will only show a positive when they are showing a fever above 38 C and a new cough.

“That is when the test is at its highest validity, so that’s when people are doing what we call shedding the virus,” she said. “Meaning that we can actually pick up the virus with the test at that point and confirm whether or not they have it.”

She said that’s one of the reasons tests are not performed at airports, because returning travellers might not be showing symptoms at that time even though they may be infected.

“This is a time not to think about ourselves but a time to think more about each other,” Strang said. “So I really appeal that people being told or asked to self-isolate need to adhere (to) that.

And as communities, we need to support that, so if people have self-isolated and need help to get groceries or their prescriptions, we need to step up as communities and work together to protect each other.”

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