10 new cases of COVID-19 in Nunavut

"That's it guys. It's time to take a stand and fight COVID-19".

The Nunavut government is expected to provide an update on the territory's COVID-19 situation Wednesday morning, after a major surge in coronavirus cases this week.

Eight of the new cases have been identified in Arviat, bringing the community's number of positive cases to 54.

"This is an outbreak", Michael Patterson, Nunavut's chief public health officer, told a news conference streamed online from the territory's capital, Iqaluit.

All non-essential businesses, services, and organizations are closing. The other two confirmed positive COVID-19 cases are in Rankin's Inlet, where a case was first reported last Thursday.

A government news release on Tuesday says one of the affected individuals in Whale Cove is liked to the outbreak in Arviat, and the virus was then transmitted by that person to seven others in Whale Cove.

"In other societies, things are more stable. We need all of you to make sacrifices now to protect our communities".

Gatherings are restricted to five people and are not permitted in homes.

The Government of Nunavut is asking that anyone who may have been exposed to COVID-19 to self-isolate for 14 days.

In Iqaluit, streets were quiet and parking lots mostly empty on the first day of the shutdown.

Nunavut is to enter a territory-wide lockdown Wednesday.

There are some tests in the area at Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit.

There is some in-territory testing in Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit.