Fourteen more cases of COVID-19 were reported on Wednesday, including one in Tulita.
Additionally two Yellowknife high school students have tested positive, one attends École St. Patrick High School and another who attends École Sir John Franklin School.
“The two cases are unrelated and the infections were not acquired at school,” a press release reads.
The schools will be contacting affected students directly and public health recommends that vaccinated students who are known contacts should be tested and continue on with classroom learning while monitoring for symptoms. Whereas unvaccinated and partially vaccinated students who are known contacts will shift to e-learning for 10 days while monitoring for symptoms and testing is also recommended.
To date there are 125 active cases of COVID-19 in the NWT, 221 recoveries and one death.
Yellowknife, again, saw the biggest jump and now has 52 active cases.
Dr. Kami Kandola, the NWT chief public health officer (CPHO), said there is low level community transmission in Yellowknife.
There was also a case confirmed on Tuesday at the North Slave Correction Centre.
In a press conference on Wednesday Dr. Kandola said the containment order for Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake is set to expire on Sept. 4.
Fort Good Hope now has 20 active cases of COVID-19 and Colville Lake has four.
Norman Wells has 26 cases and the containment order was extended there until Sept. 10.
Elsewhere in the Sahtu, Délı̨nę has nine active cases.
In the Tłı̨chǫ, Gamètì has three active cases and Behchokǫ̀ has one.
In the Dehcho, Fort Providence has two active cases and Fort Simpson has two.
Inuvik has one active case, Fort Smith has one and Hay River has three.
The release says there are six hospitalizations connected to the current outbreak.
The territory recently reached a vaccination milestone as 75 per cent of the population was immunized.
However, with the more contagious Delta Variant behind the outbreak, Dr. Kandola said the NWT will likely need to reach a 90 per cent vaccination rate to reach a level a herd immunity.
This is something she said is impossible for the territory to reach without children under 12 receiving vaccinations.
Health Canada says there are currently clinical trials underway to determine if COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective in infants and children under 12 — as well as if younger children need smaller doses.
Dr. Kandola says she expects vaccines to be approved for children 12 and under at some point in the fall.
