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Public health emergency in NWT extended for ninth time

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Health and Social Services Minister Diane Thom visited Hay River on June 23 & 24. Photo by Angela Gzowski/Courtesy of GNWT

The NWT’s public health emergency has been extended.

It’s the ninth time Minister of Health and Social Services Diane Thom has done so on the advice of chief public health officer (CPHO) Dr. Kami Kandola and in response to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The emergency was first declared March 18, each extension lasts two weeks. There's no limit to how many times the state of emergency can be extended.

“This is a strong reminder that vigilance and public health measures remain necessary to ensure that risk to residents – and particularly remote communities – is well-managed; that our health system retains capacity; and the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) is prepared to respond quickly to new cases or outbreaks,” spokesperson Mike Westwick wrote in a Thursday news release. “The GNWT is reminding everyone that travel within the NWT is restricted upon arrival with limited exceptions. It is an offense to travel within the NWT without an exemption under the public health orders” still in place.

Everyone entering the NWT is required to self-isolate for 14 days in Yellowknife, Inuvik, Hay River or Fort Smith with few exceptions – no matter how long your trip out of the territory is, he continued.

More information is available online:

www.gov.nt.ca/covid-19.

www.gov.nt.ca/covid-19/en/services/public-health-orders/emerging-wisely