COVID-19 case confirmed in Inuit region of Arctic Quebec

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic @arctic_eq
Posted: Thursday, September 24, 2020 at 01:22
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Before the new case in Kuujjuaraapik, there’d been 17 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nunavik since the pandemic began. (Eilís Quinn/Eye on the Arctic)

A new case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in Kuujjuaraapik, a community in Nunavik, the Inuit region of Arctic Quebec.

The Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services (NRBHSS) reported the new infection in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

The government said there was no evidence of COVID-19 circulating in the community.

“The person likely got infected down South,” the NRBHSS said. “The person has not been in any public place while contagious and is currently isolated.”

Health authorities said the infected individual had been in contact with few people an that anyone in contact with the patient would be contacted, tested and isolated.

Kuujjuaraapik is a community of approximately 700 people on the Hudson Bay coast.

Previous COVID-19 infections in Nunavik occurred in the communities of Puvirnituq, Salluit and Inukjuak.

Write to Eilís Quinn at eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca

Related stories from around the North:

Canada: Chamber of Commerce in Canada’s Northwest Territories balks at price tag for new COVID-19 secretariat, CBC News

Finland: Finnair to end flights to five regional airports, including to Kemi, Lapland, Yle News

Denmark: Faroe Islands updates COVID-19 guidelines for travellers, Eye on the Arctic

Greenland: Greenland approves revised COVID-19 strategy, Eye on the Arctic

Iceland: Iceland extends bar, nightclub COVID-19 closures in capital area until September 27, Eye on the Arctic

Sweden: Finland, UK to remove travel restrictions on Sweden, Radio Sweden

United States: To stop coronavirus, Arctic communities took matters into their own hands. Can it last?, Blog by Mia Bennett

coronavirus, Kuujjuaraapik, Nunavik, travel

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

Eilís Quinn is an award-winning journalist and manages Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic news cooperation project. Eilís has reported from the Arctic regions of all eight circumpolar countries and has produced numerous documentary and multimedia series about climate change and the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the North.

Her investigative report "Death in the Arctic: A community grieves, a father fights for change," about the murder of Robert Adams, a 19-year-old Inuk man from Arctic Quebec, received the silver medal for “Best Investigative Article or Series” at the 2019 Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The project also received an honourable mention for excellence in reporting on trauma at the 2019 Dart Awards in New York City.

Her report “The Arctic Railway: Building a future or destroying a culture?” on the impact a multi-billion euro infrastructure project would have on Indigenous communities in Arctic Europe was a finalist at the 2019 Canadian Association of Journalists award in the online investigative category.

Her multimedia project on the health challenges in the Canadian Arctic, "Bridging the Divide," was a finalist at the 2012 Webby Awards.

Her work on climate change in the Arctic has also been featured on the TV science program Découverte, as well as Le Téléjournal, the French-Language CBC’s flagship news cast.

Eilís has worked for media organizations in Canada and the United States and as a TV host for the Discovery/BBC Worldwide series "Best in China."

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A new case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in Kuujjuaraapik, a community in Nunavik, the Inuit region of Arctic Quebec.

Related stories from around the North:

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

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