Another 5 Manitobans with COVID-19 have died, 179 new cases reported

Manitoba health officials are reporting five more COVID-19-related deaths and 179 new cases of the virus.

The cases reported on the province’s online COVID-19 dashboard Thursday bring Manitoba’s total active case count to 1,404 and the province’s five-day test positivity rate to 5.7 per cent.

The latest COVID-19 deaths reported Thursday include:

• a man in his 30s from the Winnipeg health region;
• a woman in her 70s from the Winnipeg health region;
• a man in his 70s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the Delta variant of concern;
• a woman in her 80s from the Southern Health region, linked to the outbreak at Third Crossing Manor); and
• a man in his 80s from the Southern Health region, linked to the outbreak at Third Crossing Manor.

Details were also released about two deaths reported Tuesday and Wednesday. Those victims include:

• a woman in her 90s from Prairie Mountain Health region linked to an unspecified variant of concern and the outbreak at the Benito Personal Care Home (reported Tuesday);
• a man in his 60s from the Southern Health region (reported Wednesday) and;
• a man in his 70s from Prairie Mountain Health (reported Wednesday).

The majority of Thursday’s new cases come from the Southern Health region, with 69 new infections.

0:29 COVID-19 and kids in Manitoba

Another 43 cases come from the Winnipeg Health region, 28 were found in the Prairie Mountain Health region, 32 were reported in the Northern Health region and seven were found in the Interlake-Eastern Health region.

Health data shows 94 of Manitoba’s latest infections are among people who had yet to be vaccinated, eight were partially vaccinated and 77 were fully vaccinated.

According to a provincial site tracking five-day test positivity rates across the province’s five health districts, the southern district continues to see the highest rates of infection in the province.

The rate was 14.4 per cent in the southern district Wednesday, but data from the past two weeks shows it climbed as high 16.6 per cent on Nov. 11.

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The northern region had the second highest five-day test positivity rate, with 10 per cent reported Wednesday, while Winnipeg’s rate remains the lowest with 2.9 per cent reported Wednesday

Officials said there were 157 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 reported as of Thursday morning and 30 patients in intensive care units as a result of the virus.

Health data shows 3,682 tests for COVID-19 were performed Wednesday.

Since March 2020, Manitoba has now reported 66,184 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Outbreaks, enforcement

Health officials reported several new outbreaks at schools and health facilities Thursday.

Outbreaks have been declared at Amber Meadow Retirement Home in Winnipeg and Arborg Personal Care Home in Arborg. Both facilities have been move to red, or critical, on the province’s pandemic response system.

Meanwhile new outbreaks have also been declared at New Era School, grade 4/5, in Brandon, and École Sacré-Coeur, grade 2, in Winnipeg.

Affected classes have been moved to remote learning, the province says, and the schools have been moved to the orange, or restricted level, on the pandemic response system.

0:34 More seniors transferred out of hospitals

The chief and council of Sandy Bay First Nation are urging residents to stay home after an outbreak. The community has been under a state of emergency since Tuesday and a curfew is now being enforced.

Residents are being asked to stay at home from 11 p.m.-6 a.m. The chief and council are urging residents to prepare for a community lockdown and stock up on supplies that would last them 14-24 days.

There have been 80 cases in Sandy Bay since October 5. As of Wednesday, there are 54 active cases, with 6 people in hospital and two in ICU.

The province says previously declared outbreaks have ended at the following schools:

• Westdale School, grade 6;
• HSC GD2 surgery unit;
• École Lacerte School, kindergarten;
• Ralph Maybank School, grade 3/4 only; and
• Edmund Partridge School, grade 6.

Ongoing enforcement of COVID-19 public health orders led to 38 warnings and nine tickets issued between Nov. 8 to 14, the province said Thursday.

The tickets include six tickets to individuals, two $298 tickets to individuals caught not wearing a mask in an indoor public place, and one $5,000 ticket issued 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.