Manitoba extended the province’s current COVID-19 public health orders Monday as officials reported 334 new cases and two additional deaths over the last three days.
The latest deaths include a man in his 70s from the Southern Health region reported Saturday and a man in his 80s from the Interlake-Eastern Health region reported Sunday.
Both deaths are linked to an unspecified variant of concern and bring the province’s COVID-19 death toll to 1,237.
The latest cases include 107 reported Saturday, 149 reported Sunday, and 78 new infections reported Monday.
Sunday’s cases mark the largest one-day jump in new cases reported in Manitoba since June 19, when 151 new infections were announced.
Manitoba’s Health Minister, Audrey Gordon said the province’s latest public health orders go into effect Tuesday morning for at least another three weeks.
“Manitoba must stay vigilant in our fight against COVID-19 and the fourth wave,” Gordon said in a release.
“Our case numbers, hospital admissions and ICU numbers continue to fluctuate but we need to remain steadfast in our approach with the current public health orders we have in place.”
Slightly relaxed orders for parts of Southern Health
The only changes to the orders will see restrictions slightly relaxed in several areas in the Southern Health region where vaccination rates are higher than the rest of the health district.
The Southern Health region has been under stricter restrictions including a 50 per cent cap on retail capacity since the beginning of October.
Chief public health officer, Dr. Brent Roussin said the new orders will see retail capacity return to normal in the municipalities of Cartier, Headingley, Macdonald, Ritchot (Niverville-Ritchot), St. Francois Xavier and Tache.
“Treating these municipalities like Winnipeg makes sense, given their stronger vaccination rates as well as their daily commute and close proximity to the city,” Roussin said.
“We need Manitobans across the province to step up and be vaccinated against COVID-19. We continue to monitor several indicators such as vaccination rates, test positivity rate, case counts and the strain on our health system to determine our next steps and make contingency plans if needed.”
A provincial site tracking vaccination efforts shows that as of Monday, 86.6 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received one shot of vaccine and 83.2 per cent have received two doses.
But uptake in the Southern Health district remains significantly lower, at 67.8 per cent as of Monday, driven in part by lower numbers in communities like Winkler, where 43.5 per cent of the eligible population have gotten the shots and the RM of Stanley, where uptake sits at just over 25 per cent.
Manitoba’s current COVID-19 public health orders target the unvaccinated and areas of the province where vaccine uptake remain low.
Across the province, gatherings in private homes, public areas, funerals and weddings have a lower cap on attendance if unvaccinated people are attending. Other venues, including museums, restaurants and concert halls, are already required to admit only people with proof of vaccination.
The extension of Manitoba’s public health orders leave the province at orange, or restricted, on the government’s pandemic response system and yellow, or caution, for schools.
New outbreaks
Health officials say new COVID-19 outbreaks have been declared at the Lagimodiere campus of Springs Christian Academy in Winnipeg, Benito Personal Care Home in Benito, and Light of the North Covenant Church, Thompson.
All three facilities have been moved to critical on the province’s pandemic response system and Grades 1 to 6 classes have moved to remote learning at Springs Christian Academy in Winnipeg.
Meanwhile, an outbreak at St. Augustine’s Grade 6 class in Brandon has been declared over.
Health officials say there are currently 83 people in hospital as a result of COVID-19 with 20 patients in intensive care with the virus.
There are currently 1,071 active cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba and the province’s five-day test positivity rate is 3.9 per cent.
In all, Manitoba has now reported 62,907 COVID-19 cases since March 2020.
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.
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