This has been an unprecedented year for health care around the world and in Nova Scotia.

In December 2019, China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, Hubei Province and shortly thereafter, a novel coronavirus was identified, which was later designated as COVID-19.

The virus continued to spread and the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Nova Scotia reported our first three presumptive cases of the virus on March 15 and declared a State of Emergency on March 22.

Before the first cases were identified in Nova Scotia, public health experts, health care leaders, physicians, teams and partners from across the health sector were working together to prepare for what we knew would inevitably appear in our communities.

As a result, our provincial health care system was transformed to focus our efforts on continuing to provide safe, quality care for those who needed it most, while also working to detect, contain and trace COVID-19 and provide care to those impacted by the virus.

To support this work, our COVID-19 Response Plan was implemented as part of our emergency management response. Early on, provincial and zone incident management teams were established, these then became emergency command centres to guide our response efforts.

In every corner of the province, staff and physicians responded with heart, many completely shifting the focus of their work and energy to respond to COVID-19.

As the pandemic unfolded, Nova Scotia Health adapted how and where we were testing and providing treatment to slow the spread of the virus in conjunction with the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

Beginning in March, we introduced primary, secondary and mobile assessment centres in communities around the province.

The Microbiology Lab at the QEII Health Sciences Centre initially needed to send tests to the national lab in Winnipeg for confirmation. The lab then refined its processes and capacity to conduct more than 1,500 tests each day, with surge capacity of up to 2,500 tests daily.

The lab began operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week and offered support to neighbouring provinces when help was needed.

Public Health staff have delivered more than 50,000 COVID-19 test results to Nova Scotians and continue to manage cases, trace contacts, report data and provide education and support, all while working closely with system and community partners. Environmental services and many others behind the scenes work diligently to ensure our teams and those we cared for were safe.

More than 2,500 Nova Scotia Health staff were redeployed from their departments and roles to areas of need, including long-term-care facilities and assessment centres.

Programs and services shifted how they provided care with many moving to virtual and phone-based appointments to continue to support Nova Scotians.

The procurement and appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE) was critical to ensure the safety of staff, physicians and patients. Several Nova Scotia companies retooled their manufacturing processes to help meet these needs.

We are grateful to the many organizations, partners and communities for the outpouring of support for our team members during this unprecedented time.

Our COVID-19 response to date has truly exemplified that we are all in this together – as an organization and as a province.

COVID-19 is not over; we continue to learn, respond and prepare ourselves for potential future waves of virus activity. At this point in time, the road ahead is uncertain. However, we have no doubt in the ability of our people and their unwavering commitment to their fellow Nova Scotians.

We are proud of each and every one of them.