Schools, businesses to close in Nunavut Wednesday as coronavirus cases more than double

Editors note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the lockdown began today. It does, in fact, begin on Wednesday.

Nunavut is shutting down for two weeks starting Wednesday to try to get cases of COVID-19 under control.

All schools and non-essential businesses will be closed, as are libraries, fitness centres, government offices and personal services.

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Health centres will also be closed except for emergencies and the Qikiqtani General Hospital in Iqaluit will not be accepting walk-ins.

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Gatherings will be restricted to five people and will not be allowed in homes.

Nunavut went into a similar shutdown in March, but restrictions were lifted over the summer because the territory hadn’t had any cases.

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That changed on Nov. 6 when the first case was recorded.

Since then, in not quite two weeks, four different communities have reported infections and as of Tuesday there were a total of 60 active cases in Nunavut.