Manitoba registers 84 new cases and 3 more deaths from coronavirus

Manitoba public health officials say 84 new cases of the novel coronavirus have been identified Friday and three new deaths.

The new numbers bring the total number of cases in Manitoba to 2,428. The deaths were all women, two in their 80s and one in their 70s.

The new deaths bring Manitoba’s total to 30.

• one case in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• 12 in the Interlake–Eastern health region
• seven cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• 64 cases in the Winnipeg health region

There are 933 known active cases and 1,465 people have recovered from COVID-19. There are also 25 people in hospital, and six people in intensive care.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 3.1 per cent. A total of 3,196 tests were done at testing sites Thursday, a new record, bringing the number of tests performed to 203,905.

As well, there were new possible exposures, according to the province.

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister promised Thursday to open more COVID-19 testing sites and train more staff in an attempt to cut long waiting lines that have left many people frustrated or simply turned away.

“I have never found it difficult to admit my own failures when it comes to sports, business or political life and I am perfectly willing to take charge of my own improvement,” Pallister said.

“I have to now tell you that I believe Manitobans deserve to get an improved system with better testing, shorter lineups (and) faster response times.”

People frustrated with long lineups at testing sites or showing symptoms of COVID-19 are starting to migrate to Winnipeg’s emergency rooms, according to Shared Health.

Lanette Siragusa, chief nursing officer for Shared Health, confirmed that numbers are higher in ERs lately, although they were expecting those numbers to rise.

“It may be the lineups at the testing site, it may also be that we just have very high volumes right now,” Siragusa told 680CJOB Thursday.