N.B. reports 7 new COVID-19 cases Friday; suspects 4th COVID-19 variant case

A COVID-19 test is administered at the Canada Games Centre in Halifax on Dec. 3, 2020.

HALIFAX — Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting seven new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.

Thirty-five previously reported cases are now considered resolved, dropping the total number of active cases in the province to 228.

"The ability to keep more cases from showing up is going to depend on early detection and people doing what they need to go in terms of isolation once they are positive," said Dr. Lisa Barrett, infectious disease doctor and scientist.

Friday's new cases include one case in Zone 1 (Moncton region), which involves an individual in their 80s.

One case is in Zone 3 (Fredericton region), and involves an individual in their 50s.

Five of Friday's cases are in Zone 4 (Edmundston region), and involve:

POSSIBILITY OF FOURTH VARIANT CASE

New Brunswick health believes a fourth case of the COVID-19 variant that was first reported in the United Kingdom has been detected in the province.

“A close contact of a previous U.K. variant confirmed case has tested positive for COVID-19 and is it suspected they have the variant as well,” said Bruce Macfarlane, spokesperson for N.B. Health. “A sample for sequencing is being sent to the National Microbiology Laboratory for confirmation. In the meantime, the individual is being treated as if they have the variant.”

On Tuesday, the first three cases of the U.K. variant in New Brunswick were confirmed by Dr. Jennifer Russell, the province’s chief medical officer of health.

Two of those cases were confirmed in the Saint John area (Zone 2), and one case in the Miramichi area (Zone 7). N.B. Health did not identify where the latest variant case is located.

On Jan. 22, Nova Scotia reported that two cases that were identified in December were confirmed to be variant strains – one from U.K. and one from South Africa. Both cases are considered recovered and were related to travel outside of Canada.

Further information about COVID-19 variants is available online.

COVID-19 DATA

New Brunswick has had 1,325 confirmed cases since the pandemic began. In total, 1,078 people have recovered, and 18 people have died as a result of the novel coronavirus.

Six people are currently in hospital, with three in the intensive care unit, according to public health.

Public health says 1,819 COVID-19 tests were completed on Thursday– 207,738 tests have been administered in total since the pandemic began.

The number of cases are broken down by New Brunswick’s seven health zones:

RED AND ORANGE LEVEL RULES / LOCKDOWN

Zone 1 (Moncton region) remains at the Red level and Zone 4 (Edmundston region) remains in lockdown.

All other zones are at the Orange level.

UPDATE ON VACCINES

According to New Brunswick's COVID-19 dashboard, the province has administered 17,277 doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of Feb. 1. Of those, 4,460 people have received their second dose.

The province has received 21,675 doses of vaccine as of Feb. 1, and are holding 4,398 in reserve for second dose and planned clinics.

VEHICLE TRAFFIC INFORMATION

New Brunswick's online dashboard includes information about vehicle traffic attempting to enter the province.

On Tuesday, 1,576 personal and 1,214 commercial vehicles attempted to cross the border into the province.

Of the vehicles attempting to cross the border, 13 were refused entry, for a refusal rate of 0.5 per cent.