A single, isolated, presumptive case of Covid-19 was identified during a testing of outbound employees from Ekati Mine, April 6.
Arctic Canadian Diamond Company photo
The , which oversees the diamond mine, issued a statement on Wednesday reporting the case.
"The individual is asymptomatic, feeling well and has been isolated within the quarantine wing established at the mine site," Michelle McCullagh, communications specialist with the company, stated in the release.
"The mine is not closed down and is operational."
McCullagh added in the statement that the company enacted the mine's "Trigger Response Plan" in response to learning about the case.
Contact tracing was conducted and included identifying close contact individuals who were then moved to quarantine as a precaution, she stated.
The company says it is working with the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer (OCPHO) and is carefully monitoring the situation.
The OCPHO has stopped announcing presumptive cases as of last month, although announcements had been made early in the pandemic when there were just a few cases, explained Darren Campbell, manager of Covid Communications.
"In some instances when we have announced presumptive positives, some have turned out to be negative," he added. "This creates confusion among the public and we donSA国际影视传媒檛 want to cause undue alarm - especially if no public health risk has been identified.
"So weSA国际影视传媒檙e only announcing confirmed positive COVID-19 infections going forward."
A presumptive case refers to a single, positive test for COVID-19, while a confirmed case requires two positive test results.
