The Province continues to have three active cases of COVID-19 with no new cases identified
Premier Stephen McNeil
yesterday.
To date, Nova Scotia has 98,110 negative test results, 1,089 positive COVID-19 cases and 65 deaths. One person is currently hospitalized in ICU. One thousand and twenty-one cases are now resolved.
Nova Scotia Health Authority’s labs completed 482 Nova Scotia tests yesterday.
During an update , Premier Stephen McNeil and chief medical health officer Dr. Robert Strang, announced increases to the province’s COVID-19 testing capacity.
The IWK is expanding its primary assessment centre to double its capacity and increase the speed of testing for children, which will be up and running by the third week of October.
The IWK is also set to begin using the gargle test tomorrow, to diagnose COVID-19 in children ages four to 18. Once they’ve piloted the process, the gargle test will soon be available for children at all primary assessment centres. Other updates include expanding most primary assessment centres around the province with larger locations, longer hours and more staff so that Nova Scotians can get tested faster, as well as adding testing equipment in Sydney.
Online booking for testing appointments will also be established, which the government says will dramatically reduce the wait time to book an appointment. Lab capacity in Halifax is also expected to be able to process 2,500 tests per day by mid November.