Yukon reports 18 new COVID-19 cases

There are 18 new COVID-19 cases in Yukon, says Dr. Brendan Hanley, the territory's chief medical officer of health in a Thursday news release. The new cases bring the active case count in the territory to 107.

The new cases are from noon Wednesday and are being investigated. Contact tracing is also underway.

Since June 4, all of the variant testing results received to date are positive for the Gamma variant.

Fifty three people in the most recent outbreak have recovered, the release says.

The total case count for Yukon now stands at 242 and four deaths.

"COVID-19 is being widely transmitted throughout Yukon, primarily affecting unvaccinated people and is now present in most Yukon communities," it reads.

Eleven of 14 communities have people positive for COVID-19.

The news release does not name which communities are affected. However, recently health officials said they may consider disclosing the names of communities outside Whitehorse where COVID-19 cases are active, if that's what chiefs and mayors want.

Hanley said COVID-19 is hitting Yukoners of every age, from one year to 90 years old.

"We are working as hard as we can to provide advice to individuals on how they need to respond to a possible or known exposure to COVID-19," he said.

"I understand that people are concerned, especially parents of young ones when there is what appears to be a delay in notification. What is important to remember is that very young children do not get as ill as older folks. And, we need time to work through who are contacts and who are not."

He added that it is still important that people stay home if they are sick, get tested if they have symptoms and get vaccinated.