N.B. COVID-19 roundup: 108 new cases, no plan to ban travellers into province

New Brunswick reported 108 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total number of active cases to 1,258.

The new cases are spread across all seven health regions but mostly concentrated in the Saint John region. There are 82 recoveries, Public Health said Sunday. 

Interim COVID-19 measures to slow the spread of the Omicron variant came into effect over the weekend. 

The restrictions include limiting contacts to a steady group of 20, the reinstatement of physical distancing in public spaces indoors, and reduced capacity at venues like movie theatres, sporting arenas and casinos. 

There were no new cases of Omicron reported in the province Sunday, leaving the number of Omicron cases at 30.

"Our case count is still primarily the Delta [variant)," Premier Blaine Higgs said in an interview with Rosemary Barton on Sunday. "It has been pretty consistently and stubbornly Delta [now for] several weeks."

The province also doesn't intend to prevent travellers from entering the province, Higgs said.

Forty-three people are in hospital with COVID-19, an increase of three. There are 13 in intensive care and seven requiring ventilators. Those numbers are unchanged from the last update. 

Of those in hospital, 26 are over the age of 60. 

"Six of the 43 people hospitalized were initially admitted for other reasons and contracted COVID-19 due to outbreaks at hospitals in Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton and Miramichi," Public Health said in a release.

No one is in hospital is under the age of 19. 

A total of 82.6 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers are fully vaccinated against COVID, unchanged from the last update, and 89.4 per cent have received their first dose, up from 89.3 per cent.

The COVID-19 dashboard shows 13.3 per cent of those eligible for a booster dose have received one, up from 12.8 per cent.

Among children aged five to 11 years old, 37.1 per cent have received their first dose of the vaccine, up from 35.5 per cent.