december 22, 2021, dr. janice fitzgerald announced 60 new cases of covid-19 and 12 recoveries, leaving 223 active cases; the highest active caseload since february 2021. dr. fitzgerald also announced that three out of four health authorities are now dealing with an outbreak; eastern health, central health and western health. fitzgerald said during the briefing, "our active case count has jumped from 30 to 223 in one week." this prompted fitzgerald to announce that the entire province will be moving to alert level 3 effective 12:01am on december 23, 2021, and will remain in effect until january 10, 2022, at which time the situation will be reassessed. newfoundland and labrador health and community services announced a spike in cases on december 23, 2021, with 100 new covid-19 cases, the majority in eastern health (73). there were nine recoveries, leaving 314 active cases; the highest since february 2021. fortunately, no one is hospitalized due to covid-19. eighty-five new cases were reported on december 24, 2021, along with ten recoveries, leaving 389 active cases. one person is hospitalized due to covid-19. since the last media advisory on december 24, 2021, health officials recorded 357 new covid-19 cases over the christmas holiday. the province is now reporting its highest active caseload since the pandemic began, with 677 active cases. officials did not provide an update on recoveries, but did mention that one person is now in hospital due to covid-19. officials recorded 194 new covid-19 cases on december 28, 2021. the active case count is now 843; the highest since the pandemic began. during an unexpected media briefing on december 29, 2021, dr. janice fitzgerald announced a record-breaking, one-day increase of 312 new covid-19 cases. premier andrew furey announced that all schools will not reopen for in-class instruction on january 4, 2022; instead, classes will pivot to virtual learning. education minister tom osborne (canadian politician) stated they will assess the situation on a week by week basis, and will return to in-class instruction if the case counts and risk levels decline. during the same briefing, it was announced that labrador-grenfell health is also experiencing a surge in cases, with officials reporting 16 new cases. since then, cases have been steadily rising in that health authority. the province now has outbreaks in all four health authorities. health officials recorded another record-breaking, single-day increase on december 30, 2021, with 349 new cases. there were also 32 recoveries, leaving 1,428 active cases. there is now one person in hospital due to covid-19. there are also nine confirmed cases of individuals who were tested outside of a regional health authority. another record-breaking, single-day increase of 431 new covid-19 cases were announced on december 31, 2021. also announced were 113 recoveries, as well as the province's nineteenth death due to covid-19; the first death since november 24, 2021. there are now 1,746 active cases; the highest ever recorded in the province. newfoundland and labrador started the 2022 year with another record-breaking high of 442 new covid-19 cases. the province also announced 38 new recoveries, leaving 2,150 active cases. one person is still hospitalized due to covid-19. minister of health and community services, john haggie, announced on his facebook page that he has tested positive for covid-19. haggie stated that he was "feeling well with regular symptoms and isolating." he also thanked the health-care workers who are working tirelessly to identify cases and keeping newfoundlanders and labradorians safe. the ministry of health reported 466 new covid-19 cases on january 2, 2022, along with 19 recoveries, leaving 2,597 active cases. on january 3, 2022, dr. janice fitzgerald, premier andrew furey, and eastern health authority ceo david diamond held an unexpected live media briefing to announce 519 new covid-19 cases, 134 recoveries, and one new death; bringing the active caseload to 2,925 (another record). the death involved a woman in her 50's who resided in the central health region. following days of high case numbers and active caseloads, dr. fitzgerald announced that the entire province will move to a modified alert level 4, effective midnight on january 4, 2022. fitzgerald asked residents to stick to their "tight 10" in order to help a "public health system that is already running at 100% capacity in trying to identify positive-cases and their close contacts." fitzgerald also stated that "the reality of this virus is that it's so infectious, most people will acquire it, but our health-care system can't stand the pressure of everyone acquiring it at the same time." the move to alert level 4 will remain for a period of two weeks, at which time it will be reassessed based on hospitalizations and daily new cases. eastern health authority ceo david diamond announced that 625 hospital staff are now in isolation, with 333 of them in the eastern health region, due to being exposed to covid-19, or testing positive themselves. health and community services announced 493 new covid-19 cases on january 4, 2022, along with 164 recoveries, leaving a record 3,254 active cases. there were 479 new covid-19 cases announced on january 5, 2021, along with 68 recoveries, leaving 3,665 active cases. there are now three people in hospital. officials reported another spike in cases on january 6, 2022, with the province reporting 503 new covid-19 cases and 109 recoveries, leaving 4,059 known, active cases. there are now four people in hospital. jerry earle, the president of nape, which represents health-care workers in the province, spoke to vocm on january 6, 2022, and stated "around 1,000 health-care workers are in isolation due to covid-19 exposures". the department of education extended online learning for the following week, with another decision to be made on january 13, 2022. dr. janice fitzgerald announced on january 7, 2022, that the province is reporting 480 new covid-19 cases and 168 recoveries, leaving 4,370 active cases. fitzgerald also announced one new death; a woman in her 60's who resided in the central health region. health and community services announced on january 8, 2022, that the province is reporting 412 new covid-19 cases and 118 recoveries, leaving 4,664 active cases. there are still four people in hospital. the ministry tweeted on january 9, 2022, that there were 367 new covid-19 cases, 87 recoveries, and six people in hospital. there are now 4,944 active cases. on january 10, 2022, health officials reported 455 new covid-19 cases. however, the department of public health stated in a news release that between december 29, 2021, to january 6, 2022, testing capacity at the provincial laboratory was exceeded. as a result, the province sent swabs out-of-province to be tested for covid-19. the out-of-province laboratory confirmed 680 historical cases, and those cases were added to the caseload released january 10, 2022, for a grand total of 1,135. minister haggie stated the province sent approximately 3,000 swabs out-of-province for testing, and those results should arrive between january 10 and january 11. there were also 122 new recoveries, and two new deaths. the deaths were both in the eastern health region and over the age of 70 years. there are now 5,955 active cases. officials reported 427 new covid-19 cases on january 11, 2022, along with 494 recoveries. due to the testing backlog and having to send swabs out-of-province for testing between december 29, 2021, to january 6, 2022, officials are also reporting an additional 323 historical covid-19 cases, for a total of 750. there are five people now in hospital due to covid-19 and the province is reporting 6,211 known, active cases. during the live media briefing on january 12, 2022, dr. janice fitzgerald announced 502 new covid-19 cases (in the last 24-hours) and 229 historical cases, 494 recoveries, and seven people in hospital. the province is now reporting 6,443 active cases throughout newfoundland and labrador, with the majority of which located in the eastern health (4,481) and labrador-grenfell health (1,250) regions. cbc reporter peter cowan asked health minister john haggie if there are patients in icu due to covid-19, to which the minister said yes; however, haggie declined, initially, to say how many people are in icu due to covid-19 because of privacy reasons, but did say there are fewer than 10. a few moments later, haggie told the reporter there were three people in icu due to covid-19. dr. fitzgerald said "our goal now is to keep flattening the curve and protecting our most vulnerable", and cautioned "we are not out of the woods yet" as the province needs another week or two to see if hospitalizations will spike like other jurisdictions. on january 13, 2022, officials reported 520 new covid-19 cases (in the last 24-hours), 166 historical cases, and 998 recoveries, leaving an active caseload of 6,131. there was also one more person admitted to hospital in the last 24-hours, bringing the total to eight patients; five in non-critical care and three in the icu. the department of education announced in a news release that january 24, 2022, has been set as a tentative date for students to return to in-person learning. the release stated the distribution of rapid antigen test kits are underway and will be rolled out to students, teachers, and staff once the return date has been finalized. all students, teachers, and staff will be required to complete two tests 72 hours prior to the return of in-person instruction; one test should be taken on friday, january 21, 2022, and the other on monday, january 24, 2022. officials reported 404 new covid-19 cases (in the last 24-hours) on january 14, 2022, along with 71 historical cases, for a total of 475 new cases. there were also 1,029 recoveries and one new death. the death was a female in the western health region who was 70 years of age or older. the province is reporting 5,583 active cases. there is still eight people in hospital, five in non-critical care and three in icu. the ministry tweeted on january 15, 2022, that the province is reporting 314 new covid-19 cases (in the last 24-hours) and three historical cases, along with 412 recoveries, and one new death. the death was a male over the age of 70 years who resided in the eastern health region. one more person was hospitalized in the last 24-hours, bringing the total to nine people. there are now 5,171 active cases across newfoundland and labrador. on january 16, 2022, there were 384 new covid-19 cases announced, along with 355 recoveries, leaving the province with 5,503 active cases. the ministry also announced one new death; a female, over the age of 70, located in the eastern health region. hospitalizations also took a spike, with the province reporting 12 people in hospital receiving care due to covid-19. officials reported a drop in new cases on january 17, 2022, with the province reporting 239 covid-19 cases. with 416 recoveries, there are now 5,325 known, active cases. fifteen people are in hospital due to covid-19, with 12 in non-critical care and three in icu. during a media briefing the same day, minister haggie was asked by the telegram reporter peter jackman how many long-term care homes in the province currently have cases within their staff and residents. haggie stated there are "80 cases" and that includes staff and residents within acute, long-term care, congregate and personal care homes. haggie told another journalist that there are currently 826 health-care workers in isolation, as of the morning of january 17, 2022. there were 295 new covid-19 cases reported on january 18, 2022, along with 2,453 recoveries and two deaths. the deaths were both males who resided in the eastern health region, and were 70 years of age and above. there are 14 people in hospital receiving care due to covid-19, 11 in non-critical care and three in critical care. the province is now reporting 3,166 active cases. as well, the department of education announced that their decision on whether students will return to in-class instruction on monday, january 24, 2022, has been deferred to thursday, january 20, 2022. on january 19, 2022, officials announced a spike in cases, with the ministry reporting 511 new covid-19 cases. there were also 471 recoveries in the last 24-hours, leaving 3,205 active cases. four more people were admitted to hospital due to covid-19 since yesterday's update; there are now 14 in non-critical care and four in