By Canadian Press

Iqaluit locks down after reporting its first COVID-19 case in pandemic

Apr 15, 2021 | 10:17 AM

IQALUIT, Nunavut — Nunavut’s capital city is under a strict lockdown after its first case of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic was reported last night.

All schools, non-essential businesses and government offices in Iqaluit are closed and contact tracing has started.

Canadian North, Nunavut’s main airline, has said the infected individual is one of its employees in Iqaluit.

The territory’s chief public health officer, Dr. Michael Patterson, says the person is a an exempted worker who has been in the territory for 16 days and started showing symptoms two days ago.

Patterson says given the timeline, it’s possible the person contracted COVID-19 in Iqaluit.

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He says a sample of the test is being sent to a southern lab to analyze for variants of concern, but results likely won’t come back for a week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2021.

The Canadian Press