The second round of testing at Gahcho Kué mine has returned one confirmed positive COVID-19 case.
The worker who tested positive was a Yellowknife resident.
The second round of tests was done because of the presumptive case from a different worker at the mine on Wednesday — which has since been deemed a false positive.
The individual had remained in isolation while waiting for the second round of testing. No additional exposures occurred during this interim period, according to a statement from the Department of Health and Social Services.
Three other employees have been placed into quarantine as a result of contact tracing at the mine and will also be tested, according to a statement from De Beers, the company who owns the mine.
The other 18 miners, who have been quarantining since the false positive case emerged on Wednesday, have been confirmed negative in follow up testing, according to De Beers.
“They will remain in isolation until further directed by the Chief Public Health Officer of the Northwest Territories,” De Beers said in the statement.
An investigation to determine potential contacts that may have occurred within the past 14 days is ongoing.
At this time, Gahcho Kué mine is conducting a review of their current sampling processes.
This is the ninth COVID-19 case in the territory after the two Yellowknife COVID-19 cases were confirmed, a day after the Inuvik case was confirmed.
