A 60-year-old man in P.E.I has contracted COVID-19, becoming the latest case in the region.
The Chief Public Health Office said in a news release late Thursday that the latest case is a close contact of an earlier announced case.
“The man tested negative initially, but after developing symptoms, [he] tested positive,” the news release said. “He has been in self-isolation and is being followed daily by public health.”
The total in the Island now stands at 138 since the pandemic hit the province almost a year ago. The province has 23 active COVID-19 cases due to an outbreak that was realized a week ago with clusters in both Charlottetown and Summerside.
A mass testing campaign that started on the weekend led to an estimated 7% of the Island’s population being swabbed for symptoms of COVID, many because they were in the same young-adult age group as most of the new cases.
Others were asked to look for a testing clinic if they had any signs or had visited one of many potential sites of public exposure listed by the province.
On Wednesday midnight, a 72-hour lockdown concluded after Dr. Heather Morrison said the test results showed no sign of the virus spreading through the larger population.
P.E.I is now in a coronavirus circuit break phase that continues till Mar. 14 at 8 a.m.