New Brunswick is reporting 2,548 cases over the past three days as the number of people in the hospital surpasses 50.
Two people in the Fredericton zone have also died from COVID-19: one person in their 60s and one person in their 70s.
In its first update since Friday, Public Health said there were 797 new cases on Saturday, 829 on Sunday, and 922 on Monday.
There were 1,070 cases in the Saint John region, 697 in the Moncton area, 299 in the Fredericton health zone, 149 in the Bathurst region, 143 in the Miramichi area, 132 in the Edmundston health zone, and 58 in the Campbellton region.
There are 51 people in the hospital, an increase of six from Friday. There are 17 people in intensive care, down from 21 on Friday.
A total of 435 recoveries were also reported over the past three days as the number of active cases climbed to 5,442. That includes 2,230 in the Saint John area and 1,683 in the Moncton region.
The rate of new cases is 321.4 per 100,000 for the fully vaccinated, 273 per 100,000 for the partially vaccinated, and 382.6 per 100,000 for the unvaccinated.
Of those currently in hospital, the rate is 3.5 per 100,000 for the fully vaccinated, 0 per 100,000 for the partially vaccinated, and 29 per 100,000 for the unvaccinated.
Among those in the ICU, the rates are 0.5 per 100,000 for the fully vaccinated, 0 per 100,000 for the partially vaccinated, and 13.5 per 100,000 for the unvaccinated.
82.9 per cent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated, 90.3 per cent have received their first dose of a vaccine and 21.2 per cent have received a booster dose.
Hundreds of health care workers isolating
Public Health said Monday that there are more than 500 regional health authority employees are isolating due to COVID-19.
That includes 461 employees within Horizon Health and 69 within Vitalité Health.
Health Minister Dorothy Shephard said they are monitoring the health system very closely.
“As Omicron spreads across New Brunswick, case counts will continue to escalate and it will affect our health-care workforce,” Shephard said in a news release.
“The Regional Health Authorities, Extra Mural / Ambulance New Brunswick and the Department of Health are on heightened alert and are diligently working, as they have throughout the holidays, to ensure critical life-saving services are there for New Brunswickers when needed.”
On Friday, health officials announced that hospitals across the province in the Horizon and Vitalité health networks would move to urgent and emergency services only. It means that non-urgent and elective surgeries, procedures and lab services will be cancelled.
No more notifications of public exposures
Public Health announced Monday that it would stop reporting public exposures as it moves away from contact tracing for the general public.
Dr. Jennifer Russell, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said the Omicron variant is so contagious that New Brunswickers should assume they are at high risk of contracting COVID-19 at all times.
