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The Minister of Health Dorothy Shephard announced on the afternoon of Thursday, November 4, that the province will end COVID-19 circuit breaker measures in the three northern regions of New Brunswick and will extend these measures to the two southern regions of the province.

In a virtual press conference with Dr. Jennifer Russell, Chief Medical Officer of the New Brunswick Department of Health, Minister Shephard confirmed the impact on the Upper River Valley in the northern part of District 3, and in District 4, Edmundston and all areas in District 4. The end of strict restrictions. 5. Campbellton area.

Shepard said the restrictions in Zones 3, 4 and 5 will end at 6pm on Friday, November 5th.

Shephard and Russell said that the province’s decision to remove circuit breakers in these areas was based on significant improvements in numbers, including new COVID infections and a sharp drop in active cases.

Although the numbers in northern New Brunswick are moving in the right direction, Shepard and Russell expressed concern about what is happening in the Moncton and St. John areas in southern New Brunswick.

Sheppard said that, as a result, the province will extend the circuit breakers in Moncton 1 and St. John's 2 for at least another week.

Russell said that since the introduction of the circuit breaker 4 weeks ago, the number of daily infections, active cases, hospitalizations and ICUs of COVID-19 has continued to decline significantly, but not in all areas of the province.

She said: "The progress in various parts of our province is slow and at different speeds," she said. "Some areas have done a good job in reducing the spread of the virus, while the outbreaks are still continuing in other places."

In addition to concerns that led to the extension of circuit breaker measures in Moncton and St. John’s areas, Russell said that public health will pay close attention to the recent sharp increase in District 7 of the Miramichi area.

Russell said that after the outbreak in the community shelter, new cases in the Miramichi area have surged in the past week. She said health officials have linked the spread of the virus to two different groups of infections.

Russell said that despite the concerns, the COVID team in the region believes that it can handle the increasing numbers without implementing circuit breaker measures.

However, she added that the public health department will closely monitor the spread of Miramichi.

"We study very carefully the spread patterns and the areas of risk that we see potential impacts," Russell said.

She said that if the regional COVID team is correct and can spread steadily, no new measures are needed. If not, they will consider a circuit breaker.

The public health update on Thursday also announced that a person in his 70s in the Campbelltown area had died of COVID-19. This marks the 120th confirmed COVID-related death in the province since the beginning of the pandemic, and more than half of them occurred during the fourth wave of the virus this fall.

At a press conference on Thursday, Russell clarified instructions to the Royal Canadian Corps of New Brunswick regarding the regulations for the anniversary of next week. She apologized for the wrong message sent to some legion members on Wednesday.

Russell said the regulations will allow indoor and outdoor anniversary ceremonies to be held across the province, including the breaker area, to respect current public health measures.

During the launch of the Poppy Campaign in Woodstock last week, Chapter 11 Chairman Nick Thomas said that after last year’s COVID-related reduction, he and all members are looking forward to seeing large crowds at the monument service.

The Woodstock Corps also plans to host indoor events before and during November 11.

The number reported in Thursday's public health update report was positive, and the number of active cases was less than half of what it was two weeks ago.

Russell said that the public health department has confirmed 39 new cases of COVID-19 infection in the province in the daily update, which is a significant drop from the more than 100 cases reported every day a few weeks ago.

She said the hospital in New Brunswick is now treating 18 people, 12 of whom are in the ICU. Again, both of these figures represent a significant decline.

Shephard talked about the impact of COVID-19 on the province's health system and pointed to the additional pressure caused by the ongoing CUPE strike, which included several health care workers.

She said the pandemic and strikes forced the province’s health network to postpone several health care services.

"So far," Shephard said, "Horizon Health Network has had to cancel or postpone 7,991 appointments, including surgeries and surgery appointments."

She said that Horizon had cancelled 188 operations, and its community health center clinics and addiction and mental clinics continued to operate, but services were reduced.

Shephard said the Vitalitié network cancelled 661 appointments for outpatient care services, 90 surgeries and 18 MRI appointments.

The breakdown of new cases confirmed on Thursday by region is as follows:

The 9 new cases in Zone 1 (Moncton area) are as follows:

Six cases are under investigation, two are contacts of previously confirmed cases, and one is travel-related.

The 11 new cases in District 2 (St. John's area) are as follows:

Five cases are under investigation, the other five are contacts of previously confirmed cases, and one case is related to travel.

The 7 new cases in Zone 3 (Fredericton area) are as follows:

Five cases are contacts of previously confirmed cases, and the other two cases are under investigation.

Two new cases in District 4 (Edmonton area) are as follows

Both cases are contacts of previously confirmed cases

A new case in District 5 (Campbellton area) is a 60-69-year-old person. The case is under investigation.

The 9 new cases in District 7 (Miramitch region) are as follows:

Five cases are contacts of previously confirmed cases, and four cases are under investigation.

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