FOG BLOG NB COVID 19 UPDATE LOG: FREDERICTON , ZONE 3 FIGHT RISING CASES AND OUTBREAKS:

N.B. COVID-19 roundup: 42nd death reported, vaccines available to people 18 and over.....Fredericton region, Zone 3, fighting outbreaks and growing cases that involve variant first reported in India.....New Brunswick reported its 42nd COVID-related death Tuesday and announced vaccines are now available to people aged 18 and over.

Ten new cases of COVID have been confirmed in the province, nine of them in the Fredericton region, Zone 3, which is already struggling with positive cases at a former designated isolation hotel, a hospital, three schools and a newly confirmed case at a child-care facility.

There are now 46 active cases in the Fredericton region — a third of the province's active cases, said Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell.

Public Health has also detected a new COVID variant circulating in the region, Russell said.

Although some of the cases involve the highly contagious variant of concern first reported in India, some of the new cases that are travel-related are not connected to that cluster, the province's top doctor told the COVID briefing.