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COVID-19: N.B. reports 15 new cases, expands vaccination eligibility for kids turning 12

Click to play video: 'N.B. expands vaccine eligibility for young people'
N.B. expands vaccine eligibility for young people
WATCH: Some New Brunswick parents are apprehensive about sending their kids back to school next month. An infectious disease specialist is encouraging students who are eligible to get the shot and the province is expanding the vaccination program to kids who are turning 12 this year. Global’s Shelley Steeves reports. – Aug 24, 2021

New Brunswick reported 15 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday and says it’s expanding its COVID-19 vaccination eligibility to include children who are turning 12 this year.

Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy said cases in school will continue to pop up in the coming year, so having more students vaccinated will help increase protection from the virus.

As of Tuesday, 73.8 per cent of New Brunswickers aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated and 83.8 per cent have received their first vaccine dose.

New cases

Out of the 15 new cases announced on Tuesday, 10 are in Zone 1 (Moncton region). Seven of those are contacts of previously confirmed cases, two are travel related and one is under investigation.

There are two cases in Zone 3 (Fredericton region) and both are contacts of previously confirmed cases.

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Three other cases are in Zone 7 (Miramichi region). All three are contacts of previously confirmed cases.

The number of confirmed cases in New Brunswick is 2,687. There have been 21 recoveries since Aug. 23 for a total of 2,473 recoveries.

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There have been 46 deaths and the number of active cases is 167. Three patients are hospitalized in New Brunswick.

A total of 1,379 tests were conducted since Aug. 23 for a total of 401,531.

Click to play video: 'Calls for N.B to address rising COVID-19 cases'
Calls for N.B to address rising COVID-19 cases

Changes have been made to the COVID-19 dashboard to account for children turning 12 this year. The number of New Brunswickers who are eligible to receive a vaccine has increased to 696,218 from 693,386.

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Because the provincial government has been tracking the number of people vaccinated as a percentage of the population eligible to receive a vaccine, the addition may make it appear as though there was a reduction in some of the province’s vaccination rates.

Also, the province said as part of a routine review, it found 8,159 vaccinations that weren’t properly recorded. This included about 7,800 second doses.

The province says the issue has been rectified and Tuesday’s vaccination rates on the COVID-19 dashboard have been properly updated.

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