(Updated with additional details and daily case count)
Chief Medical Officer of Health – Dr Jennifer Russell – says the U-K variant of the COVID has been confirmed in the province. Russell says samples from three confirmed cases of COVID in January have come back positive for the U-K variant from the national microbiology lab in Winnipeg. Two of those cases are here in the Saint John region while the other is in the Miramichi region. All are self-isolating.
Russell says two of the cases are related to international travel while the other is related to travel within Canada. She says the new variant is highly contagious and is warning any type of travel is risky at the moment.
Public Health is reporting 25-new cases since yesterday – 24 in the Edmundston region which is under LOCKDOWN and one in the Moncton region which is at the RED Level.
As of today – there are 267-active cases in the province with 13-active cases here in the Saint John region. Public Health says 30-people have recovered since yesterday. Two people are in hospital in intensive care. There have been 18-deaths related to COVID since last March.
