Nunavut has recorded its first case of COVID-19, with an individual testing positive in Pond Inlet, a largely Inuit community of about 1,600 people on the northern end of Baffin Island.
Nunavut was the final province or territory in Canada to be without a case of COVID-19.
The person started experiencing symptoms last week, went into self-isolation at home, and received the positive test on Wednesday, said Dr. Michael Patterson, Nunavut’s Chief Public Health Officer, in a news conference Thursday. The individual is doing well, the Nunavut government said in a statement.
Details of how the person contracted COVID-19 are still unknown, Dr. Patterson said, although he declined to say whether the person had travelled outside of Pond Inlet.
“There are parts of this that we will not discuss,” he said.
Travel in and out of the community has been restricted, with the exception of cargo deliveries and emergencies.
“For residents of Pond Inlet, we recognize that this news may be frightening. However, the Government of Nunavut would like to assure everyone that although travel is restricted, you are not cut off from help and support,” Dr. Patterson added.
David Qamaniq, the territorial assembly member representing Pond Inlet and a former mayor of the community, told The Globe and Mail that some Pond Inlet residents live in crowded housing, sparking concerns about how easily COVID-19 could spread.
“I don’t know how well the health department can contain the spread of this COVID-19 in small communities like Pond Inlet,” he said. “Hopefully it will not spread throughout the community.”
Mr. Qamaniq emphasized that the community has been following physical-distancing guidelines since mid-March, including limiting the number of people entering the community’s two stores and not visiting other households.
Nunavut declared a public health emergency in mid-March and required anyone arriving into the territory to go into self-isolation for 14 days.
A “rapid response team” is set to arrive in Pond Inlet on Thursday afternoon, Dr. Patterson said. The team includes three public health nurses to continue performing contact tracing, as well as a logistics person.
Contact tracing has identified about 20 people so far who were in contact with the individual who tested positive, Dr. Patterson said. Since Wednesday evening, those individuals have been tested, with swabs sent to Iqaluit, where the territory has limited testing capacity, he added.
On Thursday, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA), which represents Inuit in the Qikiqtani (Baffin) region of Nunavut, said in a statement that it was working with its contacts to ensure that the affected family receives cleaning supplies, groceries and social supports during isolation.
“QIA continues to encourage the Government of Canada to work with the Government of Nunavut to ensure immediate access to basic services, including essential water infrastructure required in Pond Inlet,” the statement said.
Pond Inlet has been pumping water manually for about eight months, since its water pump broke, Mr. Qamaniq, the territorial assembly member, told The Globe.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said Thursday that his department will give its full attention to Pond Inlet to ensure appropriate contact tracing and containment efforts are taken.
In early April, Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, Nunavut’s sole MP, warned that COVID-19 has the potential to “spread like wildfire” in some of the territory’s communities.
"It is an immense amount of pressure for communities that are facing Third World living conditions in Canada,” she said.
With a report from Kristy Kirkup
Sign up for the Coronavirus Update newsletter to read the day’s essential coronavirus news, features and explainers written by Globe reporters and editors.