HALIFAX -- There is one new case of COVID-19 in New Brunswick, public health reported Friday.

It is a person between 10 and 19 in Zone 2 (the Saint John region) and the case is travel-related. As is required, the individual is self-isolating.

That increases the number of confirmed cases in New Brunswick to 191. Of those, 182 have recovered, there have been two deaths, and there are seven active cases. As of Friday, the province has conducted 60,598 tests.

Changes in long-term care visitations

The province also loosened visitation rules for nursing homes.

"Long-term care facilities that wish to reintroduce designated support people are now permitted to do so, provided the appropriate guidance is followed," the province said in a news release. "Designated support people are often family members and are an important part of a resident’s care team."

The province is also allowing residents to take a break from their routines by taking off-site visits for residents starting Friday, again with the appropriate precautions.

"We recognize that many residents have not had the ability to have close contact or leave their facilities since March," said Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick's chief medical officer of health. "It was important for us to ease these restrictions to meet the needs of the residents and their families while continuing to protect our most vulnerable residents."

Fall COVID-19 testing

Public health also said it will expand testing as it hopes to identify as many cases as possible.

It is now recommending testing for people experiencing mild symptoms or only one of the COVID-19 symptoms.

The province is also making testing available to more groups, including asymptomatic staff and volunteers at long-term care facilities (nursing home and adult residential facilities), First Nations community health centres, provincial correctional facilities, and homeless shelters.

Technical updates to MyHealthNB website

Public health staff are implementing a system upgrade to the MyHealthNB website, the web portal that allows New Brunswickers to obtain access to their COVID-19 test results.

The upgrade will take place this weekend, so there will be a delay in displaying new test results between 6 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

"If an individual has a positive COVID-19 test result during this period, a health professional will contact them by telephone," the news release said.https://myhealth.gnb.ca/