New Brunswick is reporting 14 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday as the province’s number of active cases dropped due to 17 new recoveries.
There are now 264 active cases of the virus in the province.
Four of the new cases are located in the Moncton region and include: an individual 19 years old or younger; an individual between the ages of 20 and 29; an individual between the ages of 40 and 49; and an individual between 60 and 69 years old.
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One of the cases is located in the Edmundston region: an individual between the ages of 50 and 59.
There are nine cases being reported in the Edmundston region: an individual between the ages of 30 and 39; an individual between the ages of 40 and 49; three people between the ages of 50 and 59; two people between the ages of 60 and 69; and two people between the ages of 70 and 79.
COVID-19 variant reported
The 14 cases reported on Wednesday come a day after New Brunswick reported it had detected three cases of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant, which was first discovered in the U.K.
Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick’s chief medical officer of health, said on Tuesday that two cases of the U.K. variant are in the Saint John region and one is in the Miramichi area — with two related to international travel and one to travel inside Canada.
Russell says modelling shows if the more than 500 COVID-19 cases diagnosed in January had been the more easily spread variant, they could lead to more than 6,000 cases by the end of February.
Tuesday also saw Premier Blaine Higgs announce new travel restrictions. Anyone entering the province must self-isolate for 14 days and if they do so in a home with others, all residents must also self-isolate.
Exposure warning issued
New Brunswick also issued a potential COVID-19 exposure warning for a location in Edmundston.
That’s done when the province’s contact tracers cannot be certain who exactly was exposed to the virus at a certain location.
Officials say the exposure occurred at Martin Mazda at 11 Pérusse St., in Edmundston between Jan. 25 and Jan. 28 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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There are five people in the hospital as a result of COVID-19, three of which are in intensive care.
New Brunswick has seen 18 COVID-19 related deaths in the province.
Since the pandemic began there have been 1,302 cases of the virus, of which 1,019 have recovered.
The province completed 1,505 coronavirus tests on Tuesday, moving the total number of tests completed since New Brunswick began testing to 204,795.
The Moncton region remains in the red level of New Brunswick’s COVID-19 response plan while the Edmundston region remains in lockdown.
All other zones remain in the orange level.