New COVID-19 hospitalizations rise, 5 deaths reported in Manitoba

Health officials say five more Manitobans with COVID-19 have died and 177 new patients were admitted to hospital last week.

The latest COVID-19 data comes in the weekly epidemiology update covering April 3 to 9.

The hospitalizations include 19 new admissions to ICU.

This marks the third week in a row the province has reported an increase in new hospitalizations.

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There were 141 new COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital March 27 to April 2 and 111 new patients reported the week before that.

The province’s weekly updates don’t give the total number of people currently in hospital and ICU as as result of of COVID-19, instead reporting only how many new admissions occurred during the previous week.

While the province reported five deaths linked to COVID-19 in Thursday’s update, Manitoba’s total COVID-19 death toll rose to 1,759, eight more deaths than last week.

Further details about the latest deaths like age, gender and where the latest victims lived are not included in the weekly updates.

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According to the update, 1,694 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in Manitoba last week, an increase from 1,359 in the previous week.

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The province’s weekly test positivity rate climbed to 20.7 per cent, up from 18.6 per cent reported the week before.

But provincial case counts no longer necessarily give an accurate picture of active infection rates because they don’t include positive tests done at home and the government has scaled back provincial testing.

Last week Manitoba’s chief public health officer, Dr. Brent Roussin said waste water testing in Winnipeg was signalling an upward trend in transmission rates, although he added there were no plans to bring back public health orders like a mask mandate.

Thursday’s epidemiology update said wastewater surveillance data for the city at the end of March indicated ongoing activity of COVID-19 with a “generalized upward trend in activity.”

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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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