A non-resident worker has been diagnosed with Covid-19 and is isolating in Yellowknife, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Kami Kandola said in a news release Friday.
The patient is asymptomatic and is doing well, Kandola said.
The individual arrived in Yellowknife by plane and immediately went into self-isolation upon arrival.
The person wasn't in the infectious period for coronavirus transmission during their flight to Yellowknife and there is no risk to the travelling public. The individual had no contacts during self-isolation prior to receiving the positive diagnosis.
The positive test for Covid came due to targeted screening in their second week after arrival in Yellowknife.
The confirmed case comes one day after vaccinations began in the NWT, marking a "turning point" in the pandemic, Kandola said.
"The territory is expected to receive enough vaccine by the end of March to get 75 per cent of adults vaccinated. But there’s still work to do. There will always be risk until vaccination occurs across the territory. And we now know there is a more contagious mutation of Covid-19 in Canada. Everyone has already made a lot of sacrifices to keep Covid-19 under control within our boundaries. Now is the time to stay the course, double down, and make those sacrifices matter," she said.
Kandola reminded NWT residents to continue with such habits as self-isolating when required, staying home when feeling sick, getting tested for Covid at the first sign of illness and maintaining physical distance of two metres between people.