Last week, New Brunswick Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell warned New Brunswickers that it would be just a matter of time before new strains of the COVID-19 virus entered the province. On Monday, that fear became a reality. At a press conference in Fredericton, Dr. Russell made the announcement that there are now tree confirmed cases of the COVID-19 United Kingdom variant that have been identified in New Brunswick.

“Today’s news further reinforces the need for New Brunswickers to stay home as much as possible and continue to follow all public health advice,” said Dr. Russell. “These new variants are more contagious, so it is important that we take the necessary precautions now to reduce the transmission of the virus and any of its variants in our communities.”

The cases that were identified tested positive for the virus earlier in January and were sent for further testing for the UK strain to Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory, which tests positive cases for new strains. The Dr. Georges-L-Dumont University Hospital Centre’s microbiology laboratory in Moncton confirmed that three samples sent from New Brunswick are indeed COVID-19 U.K. variant cases. Two of the cases are related to travel outside of Canada and the other case is related to travel outside the province but within Canada. The cases were reported in Zone 2 (Saint John-Charlotte County region) and Zone 7 (Miramichi region).

“Each and every time someone travels, for whatever reason, there is a risk of bringing COVID-19 into New Brunswick,” said Premier Blaine Higgs. “But there is a greater danger out there for our entire province with these new variants and measures must be taken to mitigate the increased risk.”