Manitoba is once again reporting its highest ever one-day jump in new COVID-19 cases as hospitalization and transmission rates continue to climb.
Health officials announced 947 new infections Wednesday, breaking a record set Tuesday, when 825 new infections were reported.
Dr. Brent Roussin said Wednesday there was a backlog of about 10,700 tests that haven’t yet been screened for COVID-19.
“The numbers we report are definitely an underestimate of the amount of transmission we’re seeing right now,” he said.
Before Tuesday, the previous record for daily new infections was 785 cases, set Christmas Day.
There are now 7,488 known active COVID-19 cases across the province.
The surge in infection rates is due to the Omicron variant, Roussin said.
He said while there are early indications that suggest Omicron my be less severe than the Delta variant, it’s more contagious and Manitobans must remain vigilant.
“New Year’s is coming and we need to do whatever we can to decrease the amount of contacts we have during these next number of weeks,” Roussin said.
He also said health officials expect the Omicron variant will have an affect on the health-care system, noting other jurisdictions are seeing hospital admissions increase over time as case numbers climb.
“We need to be prepared for that, we need to reduce the amount of contacts we have quite significantly in order to protect the health-care system,” Roussin said.
The number of Manitobans hospitalized with COVID-19 climbed to 183 Wednesday, 19 more patients than were reported just 24 hours earlier.
There are also 29 people in ICU as a result of the virus, up two from Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Manitoba’s five-day test positivity rate rose to 24.2 per cent Wednesday, more than two points higher than Tuesday, and more than twice the rate reported just a week ago.
Winnipeg’s five-day test positivity rate is 26.2 per cent, and the health region also saw the majority of Wednesday’s new cases — 667 infections.
Another 82 cases were reported in the Southern Health region, 99 were found in the Prairie Mountain Health region, eight were reported in the Northern Health region and 91 were found in the Interlake-Eastern Health region.
Health officials also announced another COVID-19-related death Wednesday and released more information about five other deaths reported Tuesday. The latest victims include:
- a man in his 80s from the Southern Health region (reported Tuesday);
- a woman in her 50s from the Southern Health region (reported Wednesday);
- a woman in her 40s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to an unspecified variant of concern (reported Tuesday);
- a woman in her 50s from the Winnipeg health region (reported Tuesday);
- a man in his 70s from the Winnipeg health region (reported Tuesday); and
- a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region (reported Tuesday).
Manitoba’s COVID-19 death toll now sits at 1,384.
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The province says new outbreaks have been declared at Northern Spirit Manor personal care home in Thompson, Actionmarguerite St. Boniface personal care home in Winnipeg, and Fred Douglas Lodge personal care home in Winnipeg.
A previously announced outbreak at Kin Place personal care home in Oakbank has ended, health officials said.
Since March 2020 Manitoba has now reported 77,485 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of those, 68,613 people have recovered, according to provincial data.
–With files from The Canadian Press
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.
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