Manitoba will no longer be requiring notification of close contacts by child care centres.
The province said Wednesday that attendance of children and staff will be based on screening for symptoms, with the goal is to more closely align guidance for daycares with that of schools.
The change begins as of Jan. 28, and the province said public health will monitor overall cases at child care centres, and could potentially contact individual centres that see increased COVID-19 spread.
Public health officials reported three new deaths in people with virus on Wednesday, for a total of 10 since Tuesday — the majority of which occurred in the Southern Health-Santé Sud and Winnipeg health regions, with one death in Interlake-Eastern.
Based on the latest numbers, Manitoba’s total number of COVID-19-related hospitalizations has dropped by 10, to 720.
Virus-related ICU cases remain at 49.
As of Wednesday, 68,993 first doses have been given to children ages five to 11 — a number that represents just over 55 per cent of that age group.
Enforcement efforts have also continued, with 34 warnings and 37 tickets issued during the week ending Jan. 23. According to the province, one of the tickets was a $1,296 ticket to an individual, 35 people were issued $298 fines for failing to wear a mask indoors in public, and one business was dinged for repeated offences — which means the courts will determine a fine amount, with a maximum penalty of $1 million.