Man in his 50s dies of COVID; Nova Scotia announces 8 new cases

Nova Scotia reported another person has died of COVID-19 and eight new cases on Friday.

The person was a man in his 50s and he died in the central health zone. Nova Scotia's health authority didn't provide any other details. It is the 89th COVID-19 death for Nova Scotia since the beginning of the pandemic.

Of the new cases, six are in the central zone and two in the eastern zone. One case remains under investigation, while the other seven were traced to travel or an existing case.

The province also said two cases detected earlier turned out to be a delta variant, the strain that originated in India.    

Nova Scotia now has 143 active cases of COVID-19, including 10 people in hospital. Six are in intensive care. Labs did 4,918 tests yesterday.

Premier Iain Rankin and Nova Scotia's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Robert Strang, provided an update on COVID-19 Friday.

Rankin said the province is on pace to start the second phase of the reopening plan next week.

He said businesses would have to continue being patient until he decided to allow for further reopening. He also said he still wants to bring back the Atlantic bubble, but offered few details.

'Drive-past' graduations?

Rankin congratulated those about to graduate from high school and said any celebrations must adhere to public health rules.

"For communities who want to do something on a larger scale, we have to be careful," Rankin said. "We are not saying no to community-sanctioned events, but there will be serious restrictions."

Strang urged people to follow the "drive-past" approach where grads sit outside, properly distanced from each other, and family and friends drive by them. 

Alpha variant drove third wave

Strang said the alpha variant drove the third wave in the province. He said Nova Scotia has had a few delta cases in recent weeks. Delta is also more transmissible, and single doses of vaccines don't seem to work as well on that strain, he said.

Both urged people to get tested regularly.

Strang said 63.5 per cent of the entire population has been vaccinated. Rankin said people aged 16 to 30, who have only recently gained access to vaccines, need to go out and get a shot to lift the overall numbers.

The province reported 15 new cases on Thursday, plus an additional case at Citadel High School in Halifax. As of Friday, the school has reported three cases of the coronavirus. 

Atlantic Canada case numbers

• New Brunswick reported one new case Friday for 97 active cases. Three people were in hospital with the virus, including one in intensive care. 
• Newfoundland and Labrador reported three new cases on Friday for 54 active cases. No one was in hospital with the virus.
• P.E.I. has not reported a new case since June 3 and has four active cases.