New Brunswick premier Blaine Higgs said on Friday that he tested positive for COVID-19 after taking a rapid test.

“Several days ago, I came down with a cold– what seemed to be cold symptoms,” Higgs told a news briefing virtually, adding that he will be getting a PCR test to confirm his diagnosis.

The premier said he and his family are all isolating and are doing well.

During the briefing, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard told reporters the province could see 1,000 new COVID-19 cases per day within a week as the Omicron variant continues to spread.

"If we hit a rate of 1,000 cases a day, we could see more than 160 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across New Brunswick by mid-January," she added, which would “very quickly overwhelm our health-care providers.”

New Brunswick reported 572 new cases of COVID-19 and two deaths involving two people in their 70s on Thursday.

For more info, please go to hhttps://globalnews.ca/news/8481857/new-brunswick-covid-omicron-dec-31-friday/

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