5 new cases of COVID-19 identified in Arviat

Five new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Arviat, Nunavut, according to new numbers posted to the government of Nunavut's COVID-19 tracking website.

The community currently has nine active cases of COVID-19, and is the only place in the territory where the disease is circulating. Since an initial outbreak in mid-November, more than 260 cases have been found in the community of roughly 3,000 people, and one person has died.

The territory does not issue press releases on the weekend and the Health Department does not respond to requests for comment.

Arviat reported no COVID-19 cases between Dec. 28, 2020, and Jan. 22. Since then, it has reported 38 new cases.

Officials have said thesenew cases are still connected to the initial outbreak, and are being discovered as part of ongoing testing and tracing in the community. Nearly 2,300 tests have been performed.

COVID-19 vaccines have been available in the community since mid-January, but the government has not said how many residents have been vaccinated.