Tuesday marked 12 straight days without a new case of COVID-19 in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The province's total caseload remains 260. There are seven active cases, with 250 people having recovered and three deaths.

As of Tuesday's briefing there have been 10,747 people tested — 71 in the last 24 hours.

"I know many are wondering, 'Why can't we move through the [alert] level faster, given that we've had no cases for so long?' and the answer lies in the nature of the virus itself," said Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, the province's chief medical officer of health, at Tuesday's daily briefing.

"We must be patient and allow enough time to see the results of our decisions and actions, and in this case that's two incubation periods, or 28 days."

Fitzgerald said while the length of time without a new case might make it seem like the province doesn't need public health restrictions, it's important they remain in place.

"This is the paradox of public health," she said. "When we are doing things right it seems as though nothing is happening, and people are getting frustrated wondering why we must still adhere to the measures in place, when in actual fact the reason why we are not seeing any new cases is because of these very measures."

Tuesday was the first virtual briefing since the the beginning of the Victoria Day weekend. Health Minister John Haggie said the province's report card — how the public behaved in terms of compliance with public health measures — will be known by early June.

"If we did as well as we did with Easter we have something to be proud of, and if we didn't we're still in a stage where we are prepared to be able to handle a resurgence of cases," Haggie said. "Again, the jury is out on that one."

As of Tuesday there are four cases of COVID-19 outside a hospital setting. When asked when the province will be ready to allow people to vacation within the province, Fitzgerald said public health discussions are ongoing.

And as the province looks ahead to Alert Level 3, Fitzgerald said more details on what that level will look like for the public and for businesses will be released in the coming days, potentially next week.

When asked Tuesday when the provincial lab will be validated for antibody testing, Fitzgerald said it's underway but doesn't know when it will be finished.

She said there is a national committee looking at the best way to conduct antibody testing, and Newfoundland and Labrador will be taking recommendations from that.

"We'll certainly be paying attention to that information when it comes out, and that guidance, to direct how we'll be using this testing," she said.

Meanwhile, Haggie said the province will also look to improve its virtual health-care system and make it easier to use for patients.

Premier Dwight Ball announced that residents could now link their MCP accounts to their profiles on the provincial government's MyGovNL site for online services, like being able to sign up as an organ and tissue donor.

As for the province's contact tracing app — which can be used for tracing potential COVID-19 contacts through Bluetooth — Haggie said the software is still about two weeks out from being completed.