FOG BLOG COVID 19 UPDATE LOG: 5 NEW CASES IN 3 ZONES WITH VARIANT DETECTED:

5 new cases in three zones
Confirmed case of variant
36 active cases
Flight exposure notification
List of possible exposures
What to do if you have a symptom

Premier Blaine Higgs raised the possibility of a faster rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations and a quicker reopening of provincial borders on Thursday. The premier said with a new federal recommendation that second doses can be delayed by up to four months, New Brunswick could get everyone their first shot by the end of June. He also raised the possibility during a news conference with fellow premiers of re-establishing the Atlantic bubble and even getting borders to the rest of Canada "opened up" and "getting ourselves back to normal this spring." But speaking to New Brunswick journalists later, Higgs qualified that statement, saying it would depend on vaccination levels and other factors. He said talks with other Atlantic premiers on reopening borders within the bubble will probably happen in April. Factors that will determine reopening Higgs said it could be a reality "for this summer, but I'd like to get beyond that, and that'll depend on how many vaccines we have access to" as well as whether vulnerable groups and people who cross the borders regularly are vaccinated. "The move to the rest of Canada will be very dependent on the condition in the rest of Canada, in the big major centres, and what the vulnerability is for our province and the Atlantic region. That won't change unless we see a substantial change in those regions." The National Advisory Committee on Immunization told provinces this week that second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines can all be delayed by four months. Several provinces have said they'll take that advice...Public Health reported five new cases in three zones on Thursday and said a presumptive case of a variant has been confirmed as the B117 variant strain.

That previously reported case, which had been sent to Winnipeg's National Microbiology Laboratory for sequencing, was in the Miramichi region, Zone 7.

The new cases break down in this way:

Moncton region, Zone 1, one case: