Today Monday, November 29, Newfoundland and Labrador has nine new confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the last public advisory. Contact tracing by Public Health is underway and anyone considered a close contact has been advised regarding quarantine according to current guidelines.

In the Eastern Health region:

• Two under 20 years of age
• One between 20-39 years of age; and
• Two between 40-49 years of age.

Three cases are females and two cases are males. Four are contacts of a previously known case and one is related to international travel.

In the Central Health region:

• Two under 20 years of age.

One case is female and one is male. Both are contacts of a previously known case.

In the Western Health region:

• Two between 20-39 years of age.

One case is female and one is male. Both are contacts of a previously known case.

There have been two new recoveries, one in the Eastern Health region and one in the Central Health region and 2,011 people have recovered. There is one person in hospital because of COVID-19.

There are currently 21 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. The regional breakdown of the active cases are as follows:

• Eastern Health – 11
• Central Health – 5
• Labrador-Grenfell Health – 0
• Western Health – 5

The number of tests that have been administered is not available at this time due to the ongoing IT outage.

Passenger wishing to travel are advised to contact the ticket office to be added to the list.

Please note that they will accommodate walk on passengers only; no vehicles.

Freight customers are advised that shipping cut off for the Labrador Coastal Service was on Nov 12th.

Freight Operations at Goose Bay terminal is now closed to acceptance of freight.

We’ll hear from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of health today about the latest on Canada’s first two cases of a new COVID-19 variant of concern.

Two cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in the Ottawa area, the first two in Canada. The people, who travelled to Ontario from Nigeria, are isolating.

Dr. Lisa Barrett, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at Dalhousie who specializes in infectious disease and immunology, says they don’t yet know a lot about this version of the Coronavirus including its transmissibility. However, she says it’s likely that there are more cases in Canada than just the two in Ontario.

Dr. Barrett says it’s important to keep a close eye on it.

She expects to see more of the virus and that it’s important to keep the number of cases limited until we can get more people vaccinated over the next 6 to 8 months. It’s also important to track it in order to determine how we want our vaccines to look in the coming months and seasons.

Portuguese health authorities have identified 13 cases of the new coronavirus variant among team members of a professional soccer club.

Health ministers from the G7 nations, including Canada, meet in emergency session today.

SmartICE will be travelling to meet with Nunatsiavut Communities.

Rex Holwell Jr. is the Northern Production lead.

Holwell says that the meeting and workshop was held a couple weeks ago with a good turnout.

He adds that he will be travelling to Postville and Makkovik soon with Shawna Dicker to meet with the Inuit Community Governments

Click here to see what updates he got with Smart Ice.

Today, Friday, November 26, Newfoundland and Labrador has six new confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the last public advisory. Contact tracing by Public Health is underway and anyone considered a close contact has been advised regarding quarantine according to current guidelines.

In the Eastern Health region:

– One between 20-39 years of age
– Two between 60-69 years of age; and
– One 70 years of age and older

Two cases are females and two cases are male. One is a contact of a previously known case and three are related to international travel.

In the Central Health region:

– One between 20-39 years of age

This case is a male and is related to domestic travel.

In the Western Health region:

– One between 20-39 years of age

This case is a female; the cause is under investigation.

There have been five new recoveries, three in the Eastern Region and two in the Central Health region and 2,009 people have recovered. There is one person in hospital because of COVID-19.

There are currently 14 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. The regional breakdown of the active cases is as follows:

– Eastern Health – 7
– Central Health – 4
– Labrador-Grenfell Health – 0
– Western Health – 3

The number of tests that have been administered is not available at this time due to the ongoing IT outage.

The Annual Nain Christmas Tree Lighting will be going ahead this year.

Carla Pamak is with the Ulapitsaijet committee.

She says it will be held on Advent 1, Sunday evening, November 28th at 6pm by the Nunatsiavut Government building.

The community is welcome to come out and enjoy singing some carols, the lighting of the tree, followed by the Nain Brass Band playing.

Pamak adds that they will also have some hot chocolate and a snack afterwards.

Tuesday dawned with hefty news for families across Newfoundland and Labrador.

Health officials now have a plan in place for children ages five to 11 to get a special, reduced-dose Pfizer-BioNTech shot.

Here’s what you need to know.

There are two ways to do it. Parents can make an appointment at a community vaccine clinic, with slots available beginning Saturday.

They can also wait until next week when vaccines are offered in schools. It’s not clear yet, though, which schools will offer vaccines; it’s up to each regional health authority to plan that out, and they’ll have that information on their respective websites in the coming days.

Health Minister John Haggie suggested it could be larger schools or perhaps schools in smaller, rural communities that are selected as vaccine clinics.

Parents will need to sign a consent form if they choose the school vaccination option, and they’ll also get a letter from the school to notify them of possible dates.

Kids will need two doses, and shouldn’t get a shot within 14 days of another vaccine for precautionary purposes.

Health officials say they believe they’ll have enough first doses on hand to immunize children in the province in that age group.

Haggie said his department expects more shipments within the eight-week window for second doses.

It will be another full day in the cold for many residents of the Upper Lake Melville area today.

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro is making progress on that mass power outage in central Labrador.

Power was lost yesterday morning and many people went without electricity overnight.

The situation has been linked to a problem on the Churchill Falls transmission line.

Poor weather prevented crews from getting in the air yesterday, and had to resort to snowmobiles to patrol the line.

Hydro now expects to have service restored by 7:00 pm.

Hydro will be connecting the Happy Valley-Goose Bay system to the Muskrat Falls terminal station this winter for more reliable service.

It’s been almost 2 years since the spread of COVID-19, and just about a year since beneficiaries started receiving support programs through the Nunatsiavut Government.

Tyler Edmunds is the First Minister for Nunatsiavut Government.

He says they have continued with the Food Supplement Program that they started at the beginning of last year in Nunatsiavut and ULM and across all of Canada.

There are currently 1,600 family units that are using the program across all our constituencies.

Click here to hear more from Edmunds on what he has to say about the Support Programs.

This Sunday, November 28th, 2021 is Advent 1.

With this Holiday, the OKâlaKatiget Radio will be off the air and will only be airing the special Church Services.

The OK Radio will be airing the 10am Service and 5pm Service.

Again, OKâlaKatiget will be off the air and will be back to regular programing on Monday, November 29th, 2021.

So, if anyone wanting to make any birthday and anniversary greetings or requests, can do so by calling in by tomorrow Friday, November 26th.

We would also like to notify our listeners that we will also start playing Christmas Carols on Sunday, Advent 2, December 5th.

With Christmas fast approaching, OK radio will gladly play your Christmas Greetings again, starting on Sunday, December 5th, 2021.