Yesterday, Sunday, November 29, Newfoundland and Labrador has four new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The first new confirmed case is a male in the Eastern Health region between 20-39 years of age. The case is travel-related. The individual, who is not a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador, came to the province from England after being granted a travel exemption. The individual is self-isolating. Contact tracing by Public Health officials is complete. Anyone considered a close contact has been advised to quarantine.

The second new confirmed case is a male in the Eastern Health region between 50-59 years of age. The individual, a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador, is a close contact of a previous known travel case. The individual is self-isolating. Contact tracing by Public Health officials is underway.

The third new confirmed case is a female in the Eastern Health region between 40-49 years of age. The individual is a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador. The source of the infection for this case is under investigation by Public Health. An update will be provided as more information becomes available. The individual is self-isolating. Contact tracing by Public Health officials is underway.

The fourth new confirmed case is a male in the Eastern Health region between 20-39 years of age. The case is travel-related. The individual, a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador, returned to the province from work in the United States. The individual is self-isolating. Contact tracing by Public Health officials is underway.

While these four cases are all in the Eastern Health region, they are not connected to each other and they are not connected to the cluster in Grand Bank.

Newfoundland and Labrador has 36 active cases of COVID-19. Two hundred and ninety-seven people have recovered. No one is in hospital due to the virus. To date, 62,162 people have been tested.

The Labrador Aboriginal Training Partnership has started the Mining Foundations training program.

Keith Jacque is the Executive Director with the LATP.

The Mining Foundations started as of November 17th and will finish on December 15th, 2020.

The Camp Attendant training finished as well.

Stay tuned to AtjiKangitut today to hear more LATP updates with Jacque.

Today, Friday, November 27th, the province is reporting FOUR new cases of COVID-19.

The first case is a male in the Eastern Health region, aged 60-69. The case is linked to a previously reported case.

The second case is a male aged 50-59 located in the Eastern Health region.

A third case is a female aged 50-59 located in the Eastern Health region.

The fourth case is a female aged 40-49 located in the Western Health region.

The source of 3 of these cases is under investigation by public health.

Newfoundland and Labrador has had a total of 331 cases of COVID-19.

There have been 296 recoveries so far.

The province has 31 active cases.

To date, 61,320 people have been tested.

Final public exams will not be conducted in the province this June.

Mid-term exams were cancelled for January very early on, with the decision now being extended to include end of year exams.

Education Minister Tom Osborne made the announcement on VOCM Open Line this morning.

Education officials are looking at what the future of standardized testing will look like, but for this year, there will be no mid-term or final exams.

Despite that, Osborne believes there is value in standardized tests.

Public exams were eliminated in the province for a few years in the 1990s.

He says at the time, post-secondary institutions indicated that high school students from this province were ill-prepared for post-secondary compared to students from other areas.

Osborne indicates they’ll be taking a “deep dive” to address standardized testing.

Story courtesy of the VOCM.

Due to the pandemic of COVID-19, the schools along the North Coast will be doing things differently regarding the Christmas holidays.

All schools along the coast will have their last day on Friday, December 18th, 2020, and will reopen on January 4th, 2021.

OKâlaKatiget Radio contacted each of the schools along the north coast to see what they have planned for Christmas this year.

Kent Chaulk is the Principal for the Jens Haven Memorial School here in Nain.

He says that they are undecided on holding a concert yet.

Dean Coombs is the Principal for the Amos Comenius Memorial School in Hopedale.

He says the ACM School will not be having a concert, but will be doing it virtually and there is no date set on when the students will present their videos.

The J.C. Erhardt Memorial School in Makkovik are also undecided on anything “set in stone” as of yet.

Carmine Sheppard is the Principal for the B.L. Morrison School in Postville.

She says the BLM School will also be doing their concert virtually and no dates have been set yet.

Gervis House is the Principal for the Northern Lights Academy School in Rigolet.

He says the NLA is doing their concert virtually; a teacher is now setting up the final details on when they will have their virtual concert.

OKalâKatiget Radio called each of the communities to see what they have in their freezers and here is what they have to offer:

In Hopedale, they have cod, chicken legs, mattak, cod fish, smoked fillets and essential foods.

In Postville, they have salmon, char, cod and one duck.

In Nain, they have char and chicken.

The Makkovik Freezer offers Arctic Char and some cod fish for the seniors.

The Rigolet Community Freezer offers bakeapples, chicken, codfish and red berries.

The Nain Inuit Community Government has some projects still on the go.

Joe Dicker is the AngajukKâk for the Nain Inuit Community Government.

He says that the waterline replacement is not complete and will be finished next spring.

There is also funding available for anyone that needs to get their hours to qualify for EI through the Community Enhancement Employment Program.

Stay tuned to AtjiKangitut today to hear more updates with the Nain ICG from the AngajukKâk Dicker.

The provincial government is holding two media availabilities on COVID-19 today.

The first is a technical briefing on point of entry testing.

Earlier this week, Premier Andrew Furey noted there is no evidence that point of entry testing reduces the spread of the virus.

He says there is a 30% false negative rate when it comes to early testing, and that point of exit testing at the time of quarantine is more effective.

There was a tech briefing at 12:30 pm with the Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Rosann Seviour, and the Executive Director of Public Health, Darryl Johnson.

As well, the province is holding its briefing on COVID-19 today.

At Wednesday’s update, Premier Furey announced the events will be moving to three times a week due to increasing COVID numbers.

Premier Furey, Health Minister Dr. John Haggie, and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald will speak to the latest on coronavirus in the province.

The VOCM News will be holding a live briefing at 2 pm.

Today, Thursday, November 26th, Newfoundland and Labrador has three new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The first new confirmed case is a male in the Central Health region between 20-39 years of age.

The case is travel-related. The individual, who is not a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador, came to the province from Nova Scotia prior to the closure of the Atlantic Bubble.

This case is not related to a previous known case.

The individual is self-isolating. Contact tracing by Public Health officials is underway.

Because of this case and out of an abundance of caution, the Department of Health and Community Services is asking passengers who travelled on Air Canada Flight 8862 from Halifax to Gander arriving on Friday, November 20 to call 811 to arrange COVID-19 testing.

The second new confirmed case is a female in the Eastern Health region between 20-39 years of age.

The case is travel-related. The individual, a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador, arrived in the province from East Africa.

The individual is self-isolating. Contact tracing by Public Health officials is underway.

The third new confirmed case is a female in the Western Health region under 19 years of age.

The individual, a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador, is a close contact of a previous known case and is related to the recent cluster in the Western Health region.

The individual is self-isolating. Contact tracing by Public Health officials is underway.

Newfoundland and Labrador has 28 active cases of COVID-19. 295 people have recovered. No one is in hospital due to the virus.

To date, 60,578 people have been tested.

The fuel and gas prices are frozen on the north coast of Labrador, Nunatsiavut.

Dennis White is the Vice-President of Operations for Woodward’s Group of Companies.

He says the prices of fuels for the north coast of Labrador, Nunatsiavut was frozen last Thursday, November 19th.

He could not say what the prices or how the prices are after they were frozen this morning when called.