Another Manitoban dies of coronavirus, 63 new cases reported

Manitoba’s chief public health officer says another Manitoban with  COVID-19 has died and 63 more people have been infected with the virus.

The latest victim is a woman in her 80s from the Northern health region, Dr. Brent Roussin said Monday.

But Roussin said the the province’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 907 after a previously-reported death — a woman in her 90s from the Winnipeg area first reported Dec. 29 — has been removed from the list after further investigation found her death was not related to the virus.

Of the new cases, 36 are in the Northern health region, followed by 25 in the Winnipeg health region, and two in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region. No no new cases were reported in both the Prairie Mountain Health region and the Interlake–Eastern health region Monday.

Roussin said the province has now started retroactively testing positive cases looking for the B.1.351 COVID-19 variant, first discovered in South Africa.

That comes after the first two cases of the South Africa variant were identified in Manitoba last week.

“To be sure that we have a better understanding of that variant of concern in Manitoba we’re screening samples from all tests through to the beginning of February,” Roussin said of the effort.

“At this point we don’t anticipate that there are significant, immediate risks right now.”

The province launched a screening program looking for the B.1.1.7 variant first discovered in the United Kingdom in early February.

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Manitoba has so far seen six confirmed cases of the UK variant and three confirmed cases of the South Africa variant.

Health data shows there are currently 1,145 active infections across the province. Manitoba has now recorded 32,288 cases of COVID-19 since last March.

As of Monday morning health officials said there are 54 people in hospital with active COVID-19 as well as 110 who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 164 hospitalizations.

There are 10 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 and 12 who are no longer infectious but still need critical care for a total of 22 ICU patients.

Health officials warn of a possible exposure to the virus March 4 at St. Andrew’s Ukrainian Church, 160 Euclid Ave. in Winnipeg from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

Roussin said the exposure happened during a funeral and led to some 40 contacts.

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While the province says high-risk contacts have already been contacted by public health officials, anyone concerned about their exposure  should call Health Links–Info Santé at 204-788-8200 or 1-888-315-9257 to be screened to see if a test is required.

The latest information on testing site locations is available on the province’s website.

Meanwhile the province says a new outbreak has been declared at St. Boniface Hospital unit E5 in Winnipeg and a previously declared outbreak at Holy Family Personal Care Home in Winnipeg has ended.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 3.5 per cent provincially and 2.4 per cent in Winnipeg.

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Laboratory testing numbers show 1,390 tests for COVID-19 were completed Sunday, bringing the total number of lab tests done since early February 2020 to 538,759.

Earlier in the day on Monday the province lowered the age eligibility Monday as another vaccine super site officially opened in Selkirk.

Manitobans 80 years and over, and First Nations people 60 years and over are now eligible to receive their COVID-19 vaccines.

Over the weekend Manitoba reported 127 new cases and three additional deaths from the virus.

Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:

Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.

To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. In some provinces and municipalities across the country, masks or face coverings are now mandatory in indoor public spaces.

For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, visit our coronavirus page.