FOG BLOG NB COVID 19 LOG: 12 NEW CASES TODAY, NEW GROUPS ELIGIBLE FOR VACCINATION!

New Brunswick Public Health reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, including 10 in the Edmundston region (Zone 4).

Four of the cases in Zone 4 are travel-related, three are close contacts of previously reported cases, and three cases are under investigation.

Public health also confirmed a positive case of COVID-19 at Carrefour de la Jeunesse in Edmundston.......Students, staff and families are self-isolating while contract tracing is done.

"The school and child-care facility located within the school, Halte scolaire Carrefour de la Jeunesse, will be closed until April 6," public health wrote in a news release. "Students will learn from home. If you or a family member have been in close contact with a case, you will be notified by Public Health for contact tracing. If you do not hear directly from Public Health, you have not been identified as a close contact."

The other two cases are in the Moncton region (Zone 1) and both of those cases are under investigation.

This raises the number of confirmed cases in New Brunswick since the pandemic began to 1,517.

New Brunswick Health Minister Dorothy Shephard said Wednesday that public health staff are growing increasingly concerned about variants.

"Since Feb. 28, 55 per centof our cases have been presumed presumptive or confirmed to be the variant and that's a significant increase in only three and a half weeks," Shephard said.