HALIFAX -- A hospital in Moncton, New Brunswick has moved to a higher alert level due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in a Moncton special care home.

On Wednesday, Vitalité Health Network announced the temporary reduction of certain services as well as a suspension of visits throughout Moncton’s Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre.

“We must have enough flexibility to be ready to face anything that may arise in a context where there is an outbreak of COVID-19 in Moncton,” said Gilles Lanteigne, President and CEO of the Vitalité Health Network.

On Tuesday, New Brunswick reported an outbreak of COVID-19 at a special-care home in Moncton, identifying two new cases at the residence.

The two new cases have been identified at Notre-Dame Manor, a special-care home in Moncton which has 112 residents and 56 employees.

One resident is between the ages of 70-79 years old, and the other is between the ages of 80-89 years old.

Effective immediately, elective surgeries and some ambulatory services will be temporarily reducedat Moncton’s Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre.

Vitalité will contact the patients who are affected by these measures.

Visits are suspended throughout the hospital, except in these cases:

  • Visits to the Obstetric, Pediatric and Palliative Care (end-of-life) units are restricted to one designated visitor per patient.
  • Visits to patients who will receive medical assistance in dying, is restricted to two designated visitors per patient (one at a time), except in exceptional cases where one of the visitors would require assistance to go to the patient’s bedside.