N.L. down to a single active case of COVID-19 for first time in 6 months

A day after the chief medical officer of health announced a sweeping downgrade of public health restrictions, Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting no new cases of COVID-19, leaving the province with just a single active infection.

On Wednesday, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald moved the province to a modified Alert Level 2, effective Saturday.

Bars, restaurants, cinemas, shops and gyms now have the green light to open in every region this weekend.

The Department of Health said Thursday that officials have determined the case announced Wednesday was a close contact of a previous known case.

Nobody is in hospital due to the virus, for the first time in over five weeks.

The last time Newfoundland and Labrador had one active case of COVID-19 was just shy of six months ago, on Sept. 26.

Atlantic roundup

It was announced on March 18 that the Atlantic bubble 2.0 would restart by April 19.

Conditions to reopeninginclude containment ofany regional outbreaks,continued progress in vaccination programsand adherence to advisories from the chief medical officers of health.

The bubbleallows residents of the Atlantic provinces to travel within the region without the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days.

Newfoundland and Labrador's participation was conditional, since at the time of the announcement. part of the province was still in Alert Level 4. All of the province will move to Alert Level 2 as of 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick had a grimmerCOVID-19update, with 30 new cases announced on Thursdaythe highest number in a single day in two months.There are currently 89 active cases in thatprovince.

Nova Scotia has three new cases, for a total of25 active cases in the province.

Prince Edward Island reported two new cases on Tuesday. There are eight known active cases on the Island.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador