N.B. COVID-19 roundup: Province reports 16 new cases, 12 at Manoir Belle Vue

New Brunswick is reporting 16 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, impacting an Edmundston care home grappling with an outbreak of the virus.

Seven people are in the hospital in the province, including three in intensive care.

Manoir Belle Vue is reporting 12new cases after the latest round of testing. It is also reporting sevenrecoveries.

The new cases include residents and employees, according to an update published Saturday morning.

"Thank you for your encouragement, we remain hopeful," management wrote in the posting.

There are now 160 active cases in New Brunswick.

In the Edmundston region (Zone 4) there are 15 new cases:

• two people 19 and under.
• an individual in their 20s.
• two people in their 30s.
• two people in their 40s.
• three people in their 60s.
• four people in their 80s.
• an individual over 90.

One new case was reported in the Moncton region (Zone 1):

• an individual in their 30s.

New Brunswick has confirmed 1,398 total cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic and 1,215 recoveries. There have been 22 deaths.

Public Health has conducted 216,893 total tests, including 1,014 since Friday's update.

32 recovered at care home

ManoirBelle Vue said 32 cases are considered recovered. All residents and staff will be retested at the start of next week.

The home has 141 residents and approximately 70 staff.

The first cases inside the facility were discovered on Jan. 20.

The home has recorded 77total cases. Three residents have died from COVID-19.

There are 127 active casesin the Edmundston and Grand Falls region. The entire Zone 4 health area, which covers the province's northwest, remains under red-phase restrictions.

Cases have been detected at other care homes in Edmundston, including more than 30 at Villa des Jardins.

Vaccine shipments diverted

New Brunswick is revising its vaccine rollout plans after receiving fewer doses than expected.

Some of the province's shipments will be diverted to Northern Canada, the Department of Health confirmed on Friday. The federal government is responsible for vaccine distribution and allocation.

Alysha Elliot, a spokesperson for Public Health, said the province's vaccine task force will share details publicly in the next week.

"The province is committed to taking strong action and to work towards vaccinating as many New Brunswickers as possible to keep them safe and healthy. Resource management and preparedness is key to the ongoing planning for the province," Elliot wrote in an emailed statement.

Health officials in Nova Scotia were also notified that some doses will be redirected to the northern territories.

Nova Scotia's shipment of Moderna vaccinenext week will be reduced to 3,000 doses from the planned 5,900 doses. The province also expects its March shipment to be reduced.

New Brunswick Public Health has not said how many doses will be diverted or when.

As of the beginning of this week, the province hadreceived 25,850 doses.

2 new cases at sawmill

Two new cases have been confirmed at the J.D. Irving Ltd. sawmill in Saint-Lonardafter Public Health declared an outbreak on Wednesday.

Spokesperson Mary Keith said seven total cases have been identified at the facility.

The site's 272 employees havethe opportunity for threetests over the next two weeks on a voluntary basis, including bothrapid testing and the standard test administered by Public Health.

In a news release,JDIsaid it is working with Public Health and those who have tested positive are are self-isolating.