COVID-19: N.S. reports 50 new cases, record 1-day total in Western zone

Nova Scotia is reporting a jump in its daily COVID-19 infection numbers, and the province’s public health team is now investigating these new cases to “understand the circumstances around the increased numbers.”

The province reported 50 new cases on Thursday — the bulk of them outside of Central Zone.

Twenty of the new cases are in Western Zone, 20 in Northern Zone, eight cases in Central Zone and two cases in Eastern Zone.

This represents the highest daily new case count for Western Zone since the pandemic began, according to the provincial data dashboard. 

Premier Tim Houston and Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, will provide a COVID-19 update Friday at noon.

Breakdown of cases by age, school exposures

A comparison between Thursday and Wednesday’s data shows that 21 of the 50 new cases are among people aged 19 and under.

Specifically, 11 cases are in children aged 11 and under — who are still ineligible for vaccination.

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The province said two schools were notified yesterday of an exposure or exposures at their school. 

The province’s online list shows they are:

• Cumberland North Academy in Amherst
• Springhill Junior-Senior High in Springhill

There are now 213 active cases of COVID-19 throughout the province.

Of those, nine people are in hospital, including one person in ICU.

NSHA labs completed 4,012 tests on Wednesday.

The most current data shows 78.8 per cent of all Nova Scotians are fully vaccinated, and 83.3 per cent have received at least their first dose.