Daily COVID-19 update: Nova Scotia declares State of Emergency, limits gatherings to five people, requires self-isolation for anyone who has travelled outside the province

Chuck Porter, the minister who oversees implementation of the Emergency Management Act.

The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free.

The latest:

• Premier Stephen McNeil has declared a State of Emergency, invoking the Emergency Management Act;

• McNeil limits all public gatherings to five people;

• effective tomorrow at 6am, anyone who travels into Nova Scotia from outside the province must self-isolate; screeners will be placed at the airports, ferry terminals, and the roads into Nova Scotia to tell people of the requirement;

• Chuck Porter, the minister overseeing the Emergency Management Act, gives authority to police to arrest people and businesses violating the social distancing recommendations, and to issue summary offence tickets, with fines of up to $1,000 for people, and $7,500/day for businesses;

• all provincial parks are closed;

• there are seven new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total in Nova Scotia to 21; all of them are either people who have travelled or people who have come in close contact with people who have travelled;

• local testing for COVID-19 at the QE2 Health Science Centre can now report positive and negative results as “confirmed” without being sent to Winnipeg.

More to come.

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