Gov. Doug Burgum announced Wednesday that he is reinstating a requirement that people must be actively seeking employment to be eligible to receive unemployment payments.

The change will take effect July 26.

A federal government funded program giving an extra $600 per week to people unemployed due to the coronavirus is scheduled to run out by the end of this month as well.

Burgum said during his regular briefing on the effects of the coronavirus that North Dakota has a lower unemployment rate than most other states and the added unemployment assistance was always intended to be temporary.

Additional grants or loans will be available for businesses to continue making the paychecks of employees or to pay for safety measures that will reduce the spread of the virus, such as contactless payments or partitions between employees who cannot be separated.

More information on those programs will be available at ndresponse.gov

The number of active coronavirus cases in the state are on the rise, but Burgum said the state’s testing and ICU capacity are equipped to handle an increase.

Other states have seen sharp increases and have delayed reopening businesses and schools as a result but Burgum said that does not need to be North Dakota’s fate.

He urged people in the state to get tested for the virus at a drive through mass testing event or at static clinics that will be reopened.

More information about testing is available at ndrespose.gov

As of Wednesday, there were 3,971 positive cases in the state, with 3,447 recovered, 26 currently hospitalized and 85 deaths.

Ward County has had 65 cases reported, with 56 recovered and one death.