Two Yukon residents have tested positive for COVID-19 while travelling in another province, according to a press release by Dr. Catherine Elliott, the territory’s acting chief medical officer of health.
The individuals acquired the virus outside Yukon and currently have mild symptoms as they recover in self-isolation. They will return to the territory once they are no longer infectious.
Elliott did not specify which province the two travellers are in.
“We were anticipating that we would have cases among Yukoners and these two cases do not change the risk for Yukon. These persons were not infectious while in Yukon,” Elliott said.
The cases will be added to Yukon’s total, since all provinces and territories have an agreement to report on the case count based on permanent residency.
It marks the first case to be added to Yukon’s case count since April 20. All of its first 11 patients had recovered by May 1.
Two presumptive cases of COVID-19 were identified in Nunavut on July 15, but officials are still awaiting further additional test results to confirm the diagnoses. Two other cases in Nunavut have already turned out to be false positives throughout the pandemic, as it remains the only Canadian jurisdiction to not have a confirmed positive patient.
The last case to be identified in the Northwest Territories was on April 5. All five of its patients had recovered by April 20.