Nova Scotia announces malls, gyms can return to 100 per cent capacity, opens border with N.L.

Nova Scotia has removed mandatory self-isolation for travelers from Newfoundland and Labrador.

The province also announced malls, retail businesses and gyms can return to 100 per cent capacity with physical distancing.

In a Tuesday provincial COVID-19 update, Premier Iain Rankin announced the loosened measures go into effect at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

“While we continue to carefully watch the case numbers in our region, we are currently in a good position to open our borders to all our Atlantic neighbours,” said Rankin in a statement.

Nova Scotians travelling to N.L. still have to self-isolate until the Atlantic bubble is open.

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Nova Scotia reported six new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

Five of the cases are in the central zone, one of which is related to travel. Three of the cases are close contacts of a previously reported case, and another case is under investigation. There is also one new case in the eastern zone, which is a close contact of a previously reported case.

There are 36 active cases in the province, up from 32 on Monday.

As of Monday, the province says 116,436 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered and 29,677 Nova Scotians have received their second dose.

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Robert Strang said in a Tuesday provincial briefing that Nova Scotia is on track with its vaccine rollout.

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He said Nova Scotians will have their appointment for a second dose automatically scheduled for 105 days after the first shot, at the same time and same location.

Strang also ensured that while there have been a few glitches and technical issues with booking appointments, those were quickly identified and fixed.

“Later this month there will be a postal code look-up feature added to the online booking site. Users will be able to enter a postal code and see where there are appointments in that local area and for which type of vaccine,” Strang told reporters.

“We have built a reliable vaccine program and we are working hard to ensure Nova Scotians have not only a safe experience, but a positive one as well. We have gotten good and now we are getting faster and faster as supply increases.”

Strang reminded Nova Scotians to keep following public health guidelines regardless of vaccination status.

In the Tuesday briefing, Strang also said Public Health is looking at how vaccinations can impact asymptomatic transmission as it evaluated travel policies, and rules for rotational workers.

“(There are) extreme concerns in other provinces where our rotational workers are working around the explosive nature of variant strains,” he said. “So yes, we’re going to look at it but we also have to be extremely careful. We’re not going to take unnecessary risks with bringing these variant strains into our province.”