N.B. seeks answers after passenger on Moncton flight tests positive for COVID-19

New Brunswick's top doctor says she's still trying to gather information from the federal government and other provinces about a passenger who arrived at the Moncton airport last week who tested positive for COVID-19.

Dr. Jennifer Russell, the chief medical officer of health, said the passenger arrived on WestJet flight 3456 from Toronto on April 27 and then left New Brunswick.

But beyond that, few details are known.

Reporters asked Russell various questions at a news conference Tuesday about the passenger, including where they went, how long they were in this province and where they were tested.

"These are all really good questions and I wish I had answers to all of them," Russell said.

She said the passenger who has tested positive isn't connected to the province's latest case in the Fredericton region.

That case brought the province's total to 119 people with COVID-19, though 118 have recovered.

Twenty four hours earlier, Russell said the province had successfully gone 16 days without a new case being identified in the province.

Then, the Greater Moncton Romo LeBlanc International Airport posted a notice on social media about a passenger who tested positive who had arrived on the WestJet flight.

The province appeared caught off-guard by the news.

"We are looking into it," Bruce Macfarlane, a spokesperson for the Department of Health, told CBC News on Monday after the airport's post.

Later, the province posted on social media that the airport was notified about the case by the Public Health Agency of Canada and that the person had not been tested in New Brunswick.

It added officials were "working to determine if they are currently in or outside the province."

An airport spokesperson Tuesday morning was unable to offer additional information. In an email to CBC, WestJet said further information would have to come from health officials.

The Public Health Agency of Canada told Radio-Canada in an email Tuesday that it had provided the necessary information to the province and that it couldn't provide details to the media.

Russell appeared to dispute that Tuesday, saying the information she had was from the province's public safety department and that's why she was contacting other provinces to get more information.

She said it pointed to a "gap" in the flow of information about cases between jurisdictions.

"I have many, many staff looking into this right now and we've been making a lot of phone calls and so we hope this doesn't happen again," Russell said.

All other passengers on the flight were told to self-isolate for 14 days, which is what anyone arriving in the province has been told for weeks.

It's not clear how many people were on the flight. WestJet said that was information public health officials would have to provide. The Public Health Agency of Canada wouldn't release it.

Russell was asked several times how many people were on the plane, but didn't provide an answer.