1 new COVID-19 case on P.E.I. as number of active cases drops to 7

P.E.I. is reporting one new case of COVID-19 on Tuesday, a man in his 50s who had recently travelled outside of Atlantic Canada.

Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison reported the new case at her regular weekly briefing Tuesday morning.

"There is also a flight exposure notification related to the case," said a news release from Morrisonlater in the day.

"Anyone who travelled on Air Canada flight 8302 from Montreal to Charlottetown on Sunday, May 2 is already in isolation or work-isolation, and should monitor closely for COVID-19 symptoms and if any develop, visit a testing site and continue to self-isolate until a negative result is received."

Morrison also announced a significant number of recoveries from COVID-19 at her weekly briefing, with the number of active cases falling from 13 to seven.

However, she expressed the need for continued caution on P.E.I. as the number of cases continues to climb across Canada.

"Here in Atlantic Canada we see how quickly COVID-19 can get out of control," Morrison said, in reference to the almost 900 new cases announced in Nova Scotia over the last week.

"We are trying to keep Islanders safe."

There are currently 1,153 active cases in Atlantic Canada.

New variants on P.E.I.

Morrison said new variants have led to a higher proportion of patients requiring intensive care treatment elsewhere, with about 18 per cent being admitted to ICU.

Further analysis has found two recent cases on P.E.I. were the B1617 variant of interest, first detected in India, she noted.There have nowbeen 15 cases of the B117 variant on the Island, which was first reported in the U.K.

"I'm not surprised to see additional variants," said Morrison.

"Each one of these cases reinforces how important it is that people do isolate so that it doesn't spread to other people."

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