N.B. COVID-19 roundup: Province records first case of new Omicron subvariant

The new Omicron subvariant BA.2 has arrived in New Brunswick, the Department of Heath announced Friday.

A person in the Moncton region, Zone 1, has tested positive, the microbiology lab at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton has confirmed.

BA.2 is believed to be more transmissible than the BA.1 Omicron variant already hammering the province.

No information about the person's condition, vaccination status or the source of infection has been released.

Department of Health officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

"While the impact of all variants continues to be monitored, we know that vaccination — including a booster — in combination with Public Health and individual measures, is key to reducing the spread of COVID-19 and its variants," Dr. Jennifer Russell, chief medical officer of health, said in a statement.

BA.2 is now spreading in more than 50 countries around the world.

Last Friday, Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief medical health officer, said while the country's overall Omicron wave appears to be peaking, it could be extended by the subvariant.

Denmark's leading public health institute found it could be 1.5 times more infectious — highlighting the threat of the rapidly mutating virus.

Danish scientists reported, however, there's no difference in hospitalizations when compared with BA.1, and vaccines are expected to continue offering protection against severe illness.

More than 100 cases of BA.2 have been detected in Canada since November, with about 77 of those identifications coming from the National Microbiology Laboratory, and the rest from provinces and territories, Tam said.

"I encourage everyone to book their vaccine appointment or attend a walk-in immunization clinic," said Russell, "as we know this is the best defence against these variants and will reduce the risk of severe outcomes and hospitalizations."

1 death, 162 people in hospital

Another New Brunswicker with COVID-19 has died, marking 24 COVID-related deaths in less than a week.

The latest death is a person in their 80s in the Bathurst region, Zone 6, the COVID dashboard shows.

The number of people in hospital decreased Friday to 162 after two days at a pandemic record-high 165.

Of those, 70 are hospitalized for COVID-19, while the other 93 are hospitalized with COVID, meaning they were admitted for something else when they tested positive for the virus.

Three more people are in intensive care, 17, and three more are on ventilators, nine.

Two of the people hospitalized are 19 or under and 118 are aged 60 or over.

Of those in ICU, three are in their 40s, one in their 50s, three in their 60s, seven in their 70s, and three in their 80s.

The seven-day average of hospitalizations has increased to 161 from 157, while the seven-day average of ICU admissions remains steady at 15.

There are now 399 health-care workers off work after testing positive for COVID, up seven from Thursday. That includes 186 from the Horizon Health Network, 140 from the Vitalité Health Network and 73 from Extra-Mural/Ambulance New Brunswick.

Based on PCR (polymerase chain reaction) lab tests, 401 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed, putting the active case count at 3,916.

An additional 403 people self-reported testing positive at home with rapid tests.

The regional breakdown of PCR-confirmed cases includes:

Moncton region, Zone 1

•  189 new cases and 1,458 active cases

Saint John region, Zone 2

• 67 new cases and 906 active cases

Fredericton region, Zone 3

• 64 new cases and 465 active cases

Edmundston region, Zone 4

• 22 new cases and 358 active cases

Campbellton region, Zone 5

• 10 new cases and 182 active cases

Bathurst region, Zone 5

• 37 new cases and 373 active cases

Miramichi region, Zone 7

• 12 cases and 174 active cases

As of Friday, 45.7 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have received their booster shot, up from 45.2 per cent, 85 per cent have received two doses of a vaccine, up from 84.8 per cent, and 92.3 per cent have received one dose, up from 92.2 per cent, according to the dashboard.

A total of 696,572 PCR tests have been conducted to date, including 1,819 on Thursday.

New Brunswick has had 30,306 cases of COVID since the beginning of the pandemic with 26,136 recoveries so far and 252 COVID-related deaths.

More than 1,700 cases reported at 254 schools in past month

In the past month, more than 1,700 cases of COVID-19 have been self-reported at New Brunswick schools, according to the Department of Education.

Of those, 275 were within the past 24 hours.

The cases include both students and staff, said department spokesperson Danielle Elliott.

A total of 254 schools have been "impacted" since Jan. 1, the department's newly updated COVID-19 website showed Thursday. About 61 of them had never had a confirmed case before.

Since then, 94 schools have been impacted, according to the updated site, but there's no way to determine how many of those are newly affected.

There are 294 schools in the province.

The number of cases at daycares are no longer available on the website.

Students only resumed in-person learning Monday for the first time since before the holiday break. Most students had been learning online at home since Jan. 11 because of soaring COVID cases and hospitalizations.

The return to classes coincided with the province's return to the less restrictive Level 2 of the COVID-19 winter plan.

CBC requested the number of cases reported since classes resumed, but Elliott said it would "take time to review the data."

Since Jan. 1, 1,459, cases were self-reported, as of Thursday, the dashboard showed. Another 275 cases were added Friday.

"The information … is based on the number of cases self-reported by families to schools and school districts," the website states.

"Families are responsible for notifying their child's school of positive cases of COVID-19."

These figures are spread across the 294 schools and approximately 99,000 students and 27,000 staff throughout the province.- Danielle Elliott, Department of Education spokesperson

This change occurred after Public Health announced changes Dec. 31 in testing, isolation and contact tracing.

"We worked to align our processes for reporting and tracking cases affecting schools and child-care facilities with the updated measures," Elliott said in an emailed statement.

"Throughout the month of January, staff worked to ensure updated processes were rolled out and ensure the accuracy of self-reported data processes," she said.

Thursday's posting "was intended to bring the website up-to-date." The website will be updated regularly Mondays through Fridays.

The regional breakdown of the new, self-reported cases includes:

• Moncton region, Zone 1 — 353 since Jan. 1, 159 since Thursday
• Saint John region, Zone 2 — 179 since Jan. 1, 28 since Thursday
• Fredericton region, Zone 3 — 245 since Jan. 1, 25 since Thursday
• Edmundston region, Zone 4 — 283 since Jan. 1, 25 since Thursday
• Campbellton region, Zone 5 — 62 since Jan. 1, four since Thursday
• Bathurst region, Zone 6 — 250 since Jan. 1, 13 since Thursday
• Miramichi region, Zone 7 — 87 since Jan. 1, 21 since Thursday

There have now been 2,749 cases of COVID at 287 schools since the beginning of the school year on Sept. 7.

That's up from 897 cases in 193 schools, as of Dec. 22, the holiday break.

Nearly 70 per cent of the cases, or 1,721, have been confirmed or self-reported student cases, as of Feb. 1, while 757 have been confirmed or self-reported staff cases, said Elliott.

"These figures are spread across the 294 schools and approximately 99,000 students and 27,000 staff throughout the province," she said.

Although Public Health used to notify schools of positive cases, conduct contact tracing and notify close contacts, while schools or school districts used to notify families of positive cases, each school district now has its own COVID dashboard, where they list schools that have at least one reported COVID case daily. It's up to families to check the lists.

Asked about the absence of any daycare data on the department's website, Elliott said, "The information available on the dashboards is what we are able to publicly share in the interest of ensuring accurate and up-to-date information."

"However, when cases are self-reported to child-care facilities, processes are in place to ensure families within the community are informed."

As of mid-December, 117 early learning and child-care centres had been affected by COVID-19 since Sept. 7. The total number of cases has never been released.