FOG BLOG NB COVID UPDATE LOG: PREMIER CONTINUES TO ISOLATE AS CASE COUNT BURGEONS, 746 TODAY!

N.B. COVID-19 roundup: 3 deaths, 746 new cases...Case counts likely higher than reported, says health minister...

PCR test restrictions take effect at 11:59 p.m.
571 health-care workers isolating
Rapid test pickups in 4 communities cancelled
More rapid tests coming from Ottawa
Appointment to pick up rapid tests will be required
1% hospitalization rate anticipated
Booster dose eligibility expansion within weeks
56 people hospitalized, 16 in ICU
Border vaccine mandate for truckers could cause supply chain problems
New courthouse restrictions
Atlantic COVID roundup

COVID-19 has claimed the lives of three more New Brunswickers and infected 746 more people, Public Health reported Tuesday. But the actual number of COVID-19 cases in the province is likely even higher, says Health Minister Dorothy Shephard. "Really, we have to begin to consider that Omicron is everywhere because it transmits so quickly," she said. "We know that our cases double every two to three days." "I believe that, you know, realistically, there are going to be people who are asymptomatic. I believe that our case counts are probably higher than we're able to report."tarting at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, the province will "reserve" diagnostic PCR (polymerase chain reaction) lab tests for those considered at the highest risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19, while everyone else will have to rely on less accurate at-home rapid tests and self-report positive results.

New Brunswick's mid-December COVID modelling did not account for Omicron variant

Until now, all COVID cases in New Brunswick have been identified with a PCR test, or by a rapid test followed by a confirmatory PCR test.

In addition, the province announced last Friday that contact tracing among the general public is "no longer feasible," given the rapid spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Instead, people who test positive are being asked to notify their close contacts.

On Monday, the province hit a new single-day record-high of 922 new cases of COVID-19. The province could see 1,000 new cases a day by mid- to late this week, Shephard has said.

A person 70 to 79 years old in the Moncton region, Zone 1, and two people in their eighties in the Saint John region, Zone 2, have died as a result of COVID-19, Public Health said in a news release. This raises the province's pandemic death toll to 165.

The breakdown of the new COVID cases includes: