Two more Manitoba deaths, 153 new COVID-19 cases

Manitoba public health officials have identified the 49th and 50th deaths linked to COVID-19.

Officials say both are women in their 70s from the Winnipeg health region, one of which is connected to an outbreak at Misericordia Place.

A total of 153 new cases of the virus have been identified, raising the number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba to 4,088, including:

• eight cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• 15 cases in the Interlake–Eastern health region
• 15 cases in the Northern health region
• 24 cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• 91 cases in the Winnipeg health region.

There are also 1,922 known active cases and 2,116 people have recovered from COVID-19.

There are 65 people in hospital and 10 people in intensive care.

1:18 New Winnipeg school restrictions

The province says laboratory system data, including daily testing numbers, total testing numbers and the test positivity rate, will be unavailable due to scheduled systems upgrades. Data is expected to be available Sunday.

Get weekly health news

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.

Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Public health officials have advised that outbreaks have been declared at Victoria General Hospital in Winnipeg on units 5N and 5S, and at the Agassiz Youth Centre in Portage la Prairie. Both facilities have been elevated to red on the province’s Pandemic Response System.

The province also released some possible exposures. The first is at Governor Semple School on Oct. 14. Health officials say this was not acquired at school and the risk is low.

Then there are two Winnipeg Transit possible exposures. The first is on Route 11 MTS Centre to City Hall on Oct. 21 between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. The next is on Route 71 Sinclair to Aberdeen/Arlington on Oct. 16 at 4 p.m.

With the growing number of cases in the Northern health region and Churchill, the province is introducing targeted measures under the Restricted (orange) level of the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System to reduce community spread of the virus by reducing close-prolonged contact  between people.

The province says the measures will come into effect on Monday, Oct. 26, for a minimum of two weeks.

Additional measures will be put in place for schools in the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region and the Northern health regions on Monday.