Today (Friday, September 3), Newfoundland and Labrador has five 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.

The first new confirmed case is a male in the Eastern Health region between 40-49 years of age. The case is related to international travel.

The second new confirmed case is a female in the Eastern Health region between 50-59 years of age. The case is related to international travel.

The third new confirmed case is a male in the Eastern Health region between 60-69 years of age. The case is a contact of a previous known case.

The fourth new confirmed case is a male in the Central Health region between 50-59 years of age. The case is related to travel within Canada.

The fifth new confirmed case is a male in the Western Health region between 20-39 years of age. The case is related to travel within Canada.

Regarding today’s cases, Public Health is asking anyone who visited the locations on the dates and times listed below to arrange COVID-19 testing. The businesses have been notified and Public Health is thanking them for their cooperation. Starting today, potential COVID-19 exposure notifications will be posted on the COVID-19 website. They will continue to be included in the department’s public advisories as well.

• Foodland, 144 Confederation Drive, Bonavista on Monday, August 23 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

• Bonavista PharmaChoice, 145 Confederation Drive, Bonavista on Thursday, August 26 from 3:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• The Rec Room in the Avalon Mall, 48 Kenmount Road, St. John’s on Friday, August 27 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

• The Cineplex Movie Theatre in the Avalon Mall, 48 Kenmount Road, St. John’s on Friday, August 27 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

• Get Air Trampoline Park, 63 Thorburn Road, St. John’s on Sunday, August 29 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

• Jumping Bean, 37 Elizabeth Avenue, St. John’s on Wednesday, September 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

There is one new presumptive positive case in the Western Health region. Once presumptive positive cases are confirmed positive, they are reported in public updates as new confirmed cases.

There are three new recoveries in the Eastern Health region since the last public advisory and 1,448 people have recovered. There is no one in hospital due to COVID-19.

There are currently 29 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. The regional breakdown of the active cases is as follows:

• Eastern Health – 11
• Central Health – 4
• Labrador-Grenfell Health – 3
• Western Health – 11

To date, 273,830 tests have been administered.

Elections Canada is the independent, non-partisan agency responsible for conducting federal elections and referendums.

Its mission is to ensure that Canadians can exercise their democratic rights to vote and be a candidate.

Canada is a representative democracy divided into 338 ridings. When a federal election is called, Canadians vote to elect a member of Parliament to represent them in the House of Commons, where the member will debate and pass laws on behalf of their constituents.

The candidate who receives the most votes in a riding is declared the winner. This is called a “first-past-the-post” system.

Each member of Parliament has a seat in the House of Commons. Candidates can represent a political party, or can be independent, meaning they have no association with a political party.

The Canada Elections Act states that a general election shall be held on the third Monday of October every four years. However, the Act does not prevent a general election from being held on another date.

By law, election day must be at least 36 days and no more than 50 days after the day when an election is called.

A general federal election has been called and will be held on September 20th, 2021.

Here are the candidates for Labrador:

Shannon Champion for the People’s Party of Canada.

Shane Dumaresque for the Conservative Party of Canada

Yvonne Jones for the Liberal Party of Canada and Amy Norman for the New Democratic Party.

The Federal Liberal’s are leading the pack when it comes to voter intentions in Newfoundland and Labrador, according to a new poll from Narrative Research yesterday.

As of August 29th, the Liberals maintain a strong lead in the province with 52% of the decided vote. However that number is down by 60% support in May.

The Conservatives are next with 25% , up from 23%, followed by NDP at 22% support up from 17%.

Support from the Peoples Party is at 1% in the province, while the Green Party is less than that. One quarter of voters are undecided.

Justin Trudeau is still the preferred leader at 40%, followed by the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh at 23% and the Tories Erin O’Toole at 18%.

Meanwhile, overall satisfaction with the Federal Government has been steadily declining since last November. Back then 72% of responders expressed some level of satisfaction, compared with 55% in August.

The independent phone survey was conducted in between August 15 and 29, and based on a sample of 333 NL residents and is accurate 5.4 percentage points, 95 times out of 100.

The Rigolet Inuit Community Government will be taking up a floating dock immediately within their community.

The RICG has been notified that it is an accident waiting to happen and if anyone gets hurt they can be held liable.

RICG does not own the floating dock, and there is no insurance and they have no legal rights to own, operate or maintain it.

The ICG recognizes that this is going to have an impact to their community but as RICG they have to take consideration of everyone’s safety first and foremost.

The Rigolet Inuit Community Government asks that you bear with them as they look for advice and other possible solutions.

The small game season in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador will open on October 1st, 2021.

Todd Broomfield is the Director of Renewable Resources for the Nunatsiavut Government.

Broomfield says that the migratory bird hunting season will open tomorrow September 4th.

He adds that the season will remain open until December 18th, 2021.

And there is a bag limit of 5 geese.

Broomfield says that there will also be a moose hunt again this year for a total of 25 moose licenses in the Nunatsiavut Region.

Hunters will also travel to Grose Mourne to harvest 30 moose licenses.

To find out more click here.

The Nain Youth Outreach partnered up with DHSD, Teri Winters in Hopedale for a land-based outing to Hopedale’s Lodge.

Crystal Allen-Webb is the Youth Outreach Worker for the Nain Youth Centre.

She says they took four youth from Nain and Hopedale: two spots for female and two spots for male from both communities.

This was held from August 16 to the 20th for youth ages 13-16.

Youth got to experience many things during the youth outing in Hopedale’s lodge.

Stay tuned to Teen Rockers today to hear more from Allen-Webb.

The 5th Annual Gracie Memorial Ice Hockey Tournament will be going ahead again this year.

It will be held on the weekend of October 1st to the 3rd.

The 12 and under division will be starting off the tournament on Friday, October 1st.

On October 2nd will be female/women ages 12 and up.

And on October 3rd will be men’s division ages 13 and up.

The registration will be $20 per player, with max players per team of 10 and minimum of 6.

The registration deadline is September 29.

If anyone has any questions you can contact William Flowers on Facebook.

There’s a big jump at the gas pumps this morning.

The regulated price of gas is up by 7 cents a litre. Other fuels are up by between 4 and 5 cents a litre including diesel, furnace and stove oils.

Propane is down by just over a cent a litre.

The turbot fishery is ongoing in Makkovik.

Angel Chaulk is the Fish plant Clerk.

She says there are 3 turbot boats fishing and landing their catches.

To date, a total of 135,128 lbs. of turbot have been landed.

Chaulk says there are 21 employees working including 2 summer students.

At the Nain Fish plant Deidi Kohlmeister is the Supervisor.

She says the Torngat 1 scallop boat finished up on Monday, August 30th.

Kohlmeister says the boat landed its last catch of 354 lbs. of green scallops, and it was the last day for the workers to shuck.

There are now 10 employees left working, and they’ve finished up smoking char.

She says to date, a total of 47,572 lbs. of green scallops were landed this fishing season, and 610 lbs. of meats.

The employees of the Nain fish plant starts their clean up next week.

The Fraser River counting fence started on July 29th and wrapped up for the season on August 22nd.

Craig Taylor is the Fisheries Analyst for Torngat, Wildlife and Plants Secretariat.

He says that this was their first year and it was a great success.

Taylor adds that they were in partnership with the Nunatsiavut Government, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Northern Peaks.

He says that they plan to do some community presentations in the near future to inform the residents about the fish stock located northwest of Nain.

Stay tuned to AtjiKangitut today, we will be speaking with Craig Taylor later in the program to find out more.