Nova Scotia reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and said 17 active cases remain in the province.
As of March 14, the province said 48,077 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered. Of those, 16,113 Nova Scotians have received their second dose.
“As we reflect on the one-year anniversary of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, we can be proud of our efforts to slow the spread of the virus,” said Premier Iain Rankin in a press release.
READ MORE: ‘We’ve come so far’: Dr. Strang looks back on 1 year of COVID in Nova Scotia
“This year has been far from easy, but Nova Scotians have stepped up and done their part by following the public health measures.”
Since Oct. 1, Nova Scotia said it has completed 266,616 tests. There have been 581 positive COVID-19 cases and no deaths.
One person is currently in hospital, in ICU. There are 564 resolved cases.
Reflections one year later
“One year ago, we announced our first presumptive cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia,” said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health.
“The past year has been difficult on us all — especially the 65 families who lost loved ones. From the beginning, Nova Scotians have come together to navigate COVID-19 and listened to public health advice to ensure we are living as safe as possible.”
Experts in the field, however, say the past year has also brought about incredible advancements.
Scott Halperin, a Dalhousie University professor and director of the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology says not even he could imagine where we are one year later.
“We’re now with four vaccines available in 12 months. That’s just extraordinary so I think that’s a great success story and now we just need to get them into people’s arms,” he said.
Testing capacity has also grown greatly — something Nova Scotia attributes to its success controlling COVID-19.
Dr. Todd Hatchette from the Nova Scotia Health Authority’s Division of Microbiology tips his hat to the sheer amount of lab processing teamwork it has taken to get to a place where a high demand for testing can easily be managed.
“The fact that we did almost 7,000 tests in one day is truly remarkable. I did not think we would be able to reach that capacity,” he said.
“The amount of people that’s required just to collect the samples. From the security guards, to the registration clerks, to the nurses and other allied health-care professionals that actually do the swabs — it’s an incredible number of people and a very coordinated approach.”
— With files from Alexa MacLean