Manitoba public health officials announced that 72 new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba have been identified as of Sunday morning.
Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief public health officer, and Health Minister Cameron Friesen made the announcement at a news conference Sunday.
The data shows there are:
- 45 new cases in Prairie Mountain Health
- 16 new cases in Southern Health-Santé Sud
- 9 new cases in Winnipeg
- 1 new case in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority
- 1 new case in Northern Health
The province’s current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 2.7 per cent.
The total number of lab-confirmed positive cases in Manitoba is now 944.
Preliminary investigations indicate the majority of the Prairie Mountain Health cases are linked to intentional testing related to known clusters in communal living communities.
Roussin isn’t identifying the type of community for fear of stigmatization but says there are multiple Hutterite colonies that have positive cases.
“There’s a lot of co-operation. In any setting where there’s close, prolonged contact there’s increased risk of transferring the virus. These communities are working hard to reduce their risk,” he said.
“It’s voluntary testing, but there’s been, in couple of occasions, mobile testing to assist with testing.”
Cameron Friesen says he’s been in contact with the Hutterian Safety Council adding that a significant number of Sunday’s reported numbers are due to testing on colonies.
“Hutterite colonies were among the first groups to stand up to sew masks, to bring food to food banks and supply hospitals,” he said.
“These are our neighbours, these are our friends.”
The Northern Health Region case is linked to a previously announced case from the Prairie Mountain Health Region.
There are seven cases related to the outbreak at Bethesda Place personal care home. Those cases are a combination of four staff and three residents.
The residents have been moved to hospital care for infection control measures.
Dr. Roussin says we may be living with the virus for multiple years so we have to get used to seeing a number of cases.
“This is that wake up call that we are seeing increased numbers so we have to focus on the fundamentals.”
On Saturday, the province reached the previously largest number of positive cases announced in a single day.
A total of 42 new cases were announced.
The data shows there were:
- 24 new cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region
- 16 new cases in Southern Health-Santé Sud
- 2 new cases in the Winnipeg health region
Right now there are seven current hospitalizations, with one person in intensive care.
Right now there are 356 active cases and 576 individuals have recovered from COVID-19.
The number of deaths due to COVID-19 is 12.
Testing numbers show an additional 1,839 laboratory tests were completed on Saturday, bringing the total number of tests completed since early February to 125,300.
Starting on Monday, the Prairie Mountain health region is being elevated to the restricted level (orange).
That means masks will be mandatory in all public indoor places and at all indoor and outdoor public gatherings in the region. Public gatherings will also be restricted to 10 people, both indoors and outdoors.
Manitobans within this region are encouraged to take these extra precautions immediately to help slow the spread of this virus.