Manitoba’s Southern Health region continues to see surging COVID-19 cases with the region making up nearly half of the 193 new cases reported province-wide Friday.
Ninety-four of Manitoba’s latest cases come from Southern Health, an area of low vaccination rates that makes up 15 per cent of the province’s total population.
Another 48 new cases come from the Winnipeg Health region, 25 were found in the Prairie Mountain Health region, 15 were reported in the Northern Health region and 11 were found in the Interlake-Eastern Health region.
According to provincial health data, 105 of Manitoba’s latest infections are among people who had yet to be vaccinated, including 57 from the south.
Manitoba now has 1,489 active COVID-19 cases and the province’s five-day test positivity rate sits at 6.1 per cent.
Health officials released COVID-19 details from Thursday, when 166 new infections were found and one additional death was reported.
They also released detail on COVID-19 deaths recorded since Tuesday, including:
- a man in his 50s from Southern Health health region, linked to an unspecified variant of concern (reported Tuesday);
- a man in his 70s from Southern Health health region, linked to an unspecified variant of concern (reported Tuesday);
- a man in his 70s from Southern Health health region, linked to an unspecified variant of concern (reported Tuesday);
- a woman in her 80s from Southern Health health region, linked to an unspecified variant of concern (reported Tuesday);
- a man in his 60s from Prairie Mountain Health region, linked to an unspecified variant of concern (reported Wednesday);
- a woman in her 70s from Southern Health health region (reported Wednesday); and
- a man in his 80s from Prairie Mountain Health region (reported Thursday).
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Since March 2020, Manitoba has now reported 65,371 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,269 deaths linked to the virus.
Meanwhile, officials said there are currently 145 Manitobans in hospital with COVID-19 and 30 patients in ICU as a result of the virus.
The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care has risen 25 per cent in the last week, officials said.
Outbreaks, enforcement
Health officials said several new outbreaks have been declared at several health facilities and schools across the province.
Outbreaks have been declared at Portage District General Hospital Rehab Unit in Portage la Prairie and Russell Personal Care Home in Russell. The facilities have been moved to critical, or red, on the province’s pandemic response system.
Classes have been moved to remote learning at the following schools due to outbreaks:
- River Heights School, kindergarten cohort, in Brandon;
- École Lacerte School, kindergarten class, in Winnipeg;
- Westdale School, Grade 6, in Winnipeg;
- Ralph Maybank School, grades 2/3 and 3/4 classes, in Winnipeg;
- Edmund Partridge School, Grade 6 class, in Winnipeg; and
- South Pointe School, Grade 2 class, in Winnipeg.
All the schools have moved to orange, or restricted, on the province’s pandemic response system.
Outbreaks at École Régionale Notre-Dame, Grade 11/12 class, in Notre Dame des Lourdes and Springs Christian Academy-Youville Campus in Winnipeg have ended, officials said.
The province also released the latest public health enforcement numbers Friday.
They say 46 warnings and 20 tickets were issued between Nov. 1 and Nov. 7.
The tickets include one $1,296 fine to an individual, 18 $298 fines for those caught not wearing a mask in an indoor public space, and one $5,000 fine to a business.
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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