the province with 14 active cases. officials announced nine new cases and two recoveries on november 29, 2021, leaving 21 active cases in the province. newfoundland and labrador health and community services announced on december 13, 2021, that based on guidance from the national advisory committee on immunization (naci), the province will be changing the eligibility criteria for booster shots. starting in january 2022, anyone 18 years and older will be eligible to receive a booster shot if six months has passed since they received their primary series. naci has recommended that individuals in the 18-29 age group should receive the pfizer biontech vaccine for their booster, and anyone 30 years and older should receive the moderna vaccine for their booster. the media release stated that due to supply issues and the pediatric vaccine rollout, the pfizer vaccine will only be offered at public health clinics. on january 4, 2022, the government of newfoundland and labrador announced 100,000 eligible residents received have their booster shots. by february 8, 2022, over 260,000 eligible residents in newfoundland & labrador received their booster shots. on january 7, 2022, chief medical officer of health, dr. janice fitzgerald, announced changes in the province's isolation guidelines. this is in response to research surrounding the omicron variant. effective 12:01am on january 8, 2022, the following isolation guidelines will be enforced: isolation for someone who has covid-19 (tested positive or a close contact with symptoms) and fully vaccinated is reduced from 10 days to 7 days. isolation for close contacts who do not have symptoms is as follows: fully vaccinated household contacts who cannot isolate away from the case is reduced from 10 days to 7 days; unvaccinated household contacts who cannot isolate away from the case is reduced from 24 days to 10 days; fully vaccinated household contacts who can isolate away from the case and non-household contacts is reduced from 7 days to 5 days; and unvaccinated household contacts who can isolate away from the case and non-household contacts is reduced 14 days to 10 days. household contacts should be tested 72 hours after the person in their household started having symptoms or, if no symptoms, 72 hours after they had their covid-19 test. non-household contacts should be tested 72 hours after they last had contact with the person who has covid-19. dr. janice fitzgerald announced on january 12, 2022, that immunocompromised individuals will be offered a fourth dose if 22-weeks have passed since their third dose. this is based on advice from the national advisory committee on immunization. on january 20, 2022, fitzgerald announced that effective saturday, january 22, 2022, all travelers arriving in the province who are fully-vaccinated can now leave isolation after 24-hours, however, the traveler(s) is required to take two rapid tests (within the 24-hour timeframe) and produce negative results in order to leave isolation. all other isolation requirements remain the same for those partially-vaccinated and unvaccinated. on january 22, 2022, public health revised isolation and testing requirements for people who have covid-19 and their close contacts, to reflect as follows: fully vaccinated non-household contacts can follow modified self-isolation for five days after their last contact with the person who has covid-19. this means they must stay at home except to go to school or work (unless they work in a high-risk setting). modified isolation ends after five days has passed and they have their negative test result. unvaccinated school-aged children who are close contacts and do not live with the person who has covid-19 can go to school as long as they do not have symptoms. they must isolate for 10 days when not at school. unvaccinated school-aged children who live with someone who has covid-19 must fully isolate for 10 days and cannot go to school. pcr testing is no longer required for household contacts, or unvaccinated non-household contacts. on february 3, 2022, premier furey announced during the live media briefing that effective 12:01am, saturday, february 5, 2022, all isolation requirements for fully-vaccinated travellers will be lifted, however, the province will continue to require the use of the provided rapid tests twice within the 24-hour timespan. furey also announced $9,000,000 in funding for artists and the tourism industry that were hit hard by covid-19 restrictions. dr. fitzgerald announced a plan to lift all long-term health restrictions, starting on february 21, 2022. providing epidemiology remains favorable in the province, all restrictions, including masking and physical distancing, will be lifted on march 14, 2022, two years to the day that the province reported their first confirmed case. public health is also scaling back on the covid-19 daily updates, with the department reverting to monday's, wednesday's, and friday's. during the weekly live media briefing on february 24, 2022, dr. fitzgerald said that due to the hospitalization rates remaining stable, the province will be moving forward with lifting more restrictions on monday, february 28, 2022, which will include border control and isolation requirements, meaning anyone can enter the province and will not have to isolate. fitzgerald also stated that officials are seeing an increase in covid-19 activity within the province, but said "it's time to move out of crisis mode and begin a more sustainable approach to managing covid-19 while we are able to do so." fitzgerald cautioned there will be more waves of covid in the future, however, they may or may not be as severe; "that is why it's important to maintain surveillance locally and globally", said fitzgerald. as of monday, february 28, restaurants, gyms and fitness facilities, and religious ceremonies will be able to operate at 75% capacity, as long as nlvaxpass is being used. also announced were changes in isolation protocols for close contacts. effective 12:01am, friday, february 25, 2022, household contacts who are not fully vaccinated will now have to isolate for five days, a change from the previous 10 day requirement. as well, fully vaccinated asymptomatic household contacts of a positive case can follow a modified five-day isolation protocol, which includes going to work or school, but must self-isolate afterwards. there are no self-isolation or testing requirements for asymptomatic non-household contacts. however, they must monitor for symptoms for one week after the last encounter with the positive case, wear a mask outside their home and avoid crowded areas. if the individual starts showing symptoms of covid-19, they must self-isolate and book a test immediately. for those who are symptomatic and are a non-household contact, they must self-isolate and follow the testing guidelines found on the government's website. they must self-isolate until symptoms improve and test negative. minister haggie stated that there are 1,030 healthcare workers currently in isolation, with 221 of them positive for covid-19. these new isolation protocols means more healthcare workers can now go back to work earlier than anticipated. newfoundland and labrador removed the provincial border controls and travel restrictions on february 28, 2022, allowing all canadian's to enter the province without having to isolate. these measures required travelers who were partially-vaccinated or non-vaccinated to isolate for a certain amount of days, depending on the traveler's vaccination status, and allowing fully-vaccinated travelers to roam freely without any restrictions or isolation. the travel form that was found on the government's website is no longer required to enter the province. on march 14, 2022, the province removed all covid-19 restrictions, including masking and the proof of vaccination system. on march 15, 2022, public health debuted a new covid-19 dashboard, which can be found here. the website no longer supplies the number of active cases, the number of those who recovered, or the number of tests completed. on march 17, 2022, the province further decreased eligibility criteria for pcr testing. only individuals over 60, children 2 and under, indigenous peoples, front line healthcare workers, pregnant people, staff in seniors homes or shelters, and the immunocompromised are eligible for testing, if symptomatic. however, public health stated that close contacts of a confirmed case who are symptomatic are still eligible for a pcr test. on april 13, 2022, dr. janice fitzgerald announced in a live media briefing that the province plans on administering fourth doses to those who are 70 years of age or older, anyone 18 years or older who identify as indigenous or live in an isolated indigenous community, and those in congregate living settings for seniors. fitzgerald also said those who are between 12 and 17 years of age will soon be able to book their first booster shot appointments, starting on april 25, 2022. dr. janice fitzgerald announced during a media briefing on may 13, 2022, that students, faculty and staff in k-12 schools will no longer be required to wear masks during school hours, starting may 24, 2022. public health will still recommend strong mask wearing, but fitzgerald said wearing a mask will ultimately be up to the individual. fitzgerald said, "we are seeing reduced covid-19 activity in the province. hospitalizations due to covid-19 severity have decreased significantly in recent weeks, which is one of the most important indicators at this time." she went onto say, "we in public health would not be doing this if we felt that there was a significant increased risk for transmission. as we've done, throughout omicron in particular when we've loosened restrictions, there may be a little bump," and "that's not unexpected. but we don't anticipate there's going to be a huge increase in transmission with this." fitzgerald also announced that the covid-19 website will no longer be updated on monday's, wednesday's and friday's. instead, officials will only update the website weekly on wednesday's. the province announced on may 26, 2022, that as of june 1, 2022, the vaccine mandate that was introduced in december 2021 for service providers and employees in certain businesses and facilities, will be lifted at this time due to favourable epidemiology. outbreaks since the second lockdown covid-19 omicron variant outbreak dr. janice fitzgerald announced on december 15, 2021, during a media briefing that the province has confirmed its first sars-cov-2 omicron variant case; the individual, a resident of the eastern health region, has been isolating since they returned to the province from travel within canada. there were also 13 new cases, leaving 34 active cases. newfoundland and labrador reported a spike in new cases on december 17, 2021, with officials reporting 46 new cases of covid-19, along with four recoveries. the province is reporting 76 active cases. dr. janice fitzgerald announced during the snap media briefing that the province is also reporting more cases of the sars-cov-2 omicron variant, with numbers unknown at the time due to results still being processed; however, she stated she is certain the tests will become positive for the new variant. in a rare weekend live media briefing on december 19, 2021, officials announced 61 new covid-19 cases; 18 in the eastern health; 32 in central health; and 10 in western health. there were also 10 recoveries leaving 127 active cases. no one is hospitalized due to covid-19. dr. janice fitzgerald announced that the province has nine confirmed omicron cases and 34 presumptive; five omicron cases located in the eastern health region, with seven presumptive, and in central health there are four confirmed omicron cases and 27 presumptive positive cases. education minister tom osborne stated during the same media briefing that in response to the recent uptick in covid-19 cases, as well as the arrival of omicron, all schools in newfoundland and labrador will close two days earlier on december 21, 2021, for christmas holidays. he stated "classes are still scheduled to resume on january 4th". he continued, "let me be very clear: public health continues to advise that schools are safe to remain open, and we have not made a decision to pivot to online learning at this time. however, in light of the uncertainty of where things are going with this variant (sars-cov-2 omicron variant) we are eering on the side of caution and preparing for that possibility." students transitioned to online learning on january 4, 2022, following their return from christmas break. twenty-seven new cases was reported on december 20, 2021, with no new recoveries, the province is reporting 154 active cases. officials reported 27 new covid-19 cases for the second day in a row on december 21, 2021. six recoveries were also announced, leaving 175 active cases. during the live media briefing on