NL

N.L.'s active COVID-19 caseload drops to 4 as province reports no new cases

Newfoundland and Labrador has no new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, making it four straight days without a case.

5 recoveries in the Eastern Health region

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting no new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Newfoundland and Labrador has no new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, making it four straight days without a case.

The Department of Health also announced five new recoveries, all in the Eastern Health region, meaning there are now four active cases in the province. 

One person is in hospital due to the virus.

Vaccines in both the Central Health and Western Health regions officially began this week, as doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were administered to front-line health-care workers.

The Northern Peninsula — regulated by Labrador-Grenfell Health — could see its first residents vaccinated in the first week of February as St. Anthony is slated to receive its ultra-low temperature freezer, necessary to store the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, in the next few weeks.

The province is expected to receive 17,000 total doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines by the end of January, which is enough for 8,500 people.

The next COVID-19 briefing with government and public health officials is scheduled for Monday, after Friday's regularly scheduled briefing was cancelled due to what Premier Andrew Furey called a scheduling conflict.  

To date, 74,493 people have been tested, an increase of 226 in the last 24 hours. 

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador