Public health officials identified 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday.
None of those new cases are in Prairie Mountain Health (PMH), while 17 are in the Winnipeg health region. Three cases are in the Southern Health region, and 1 is in the Interlake.
While the case numbers in PMH have dropped significantly in the past week, the province has still not provided a clear timeline of when the region might be taken out of the orange ‘restricted’ pandemic response level.
Chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin says while the PMH numbers are moving in the right direction, officials would need to see that trend continue for a longer period of time before considering moving the region back to ‘yellow’ and getting rid of the targeted restrictions.
There are currently 257 active cases in the province, with 1,176 recoveries.
There are 12 Manitobans in hospital with COVID-19, and three in intensive care.
Public health officials are advising of another possible exposure at a Manitoba school. An asymptomatic individual attended Beaverlodge School in Winnipeg on Thursday.
The public health investigation indicates the infection was not acquired at school, and any close contacts of the case have been identified, contacted, and advised to self isolate.
Others who were at the site do not need to self-isolate, but should self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19.
The site is not being elevated on the Pandemic Response System, given the limited number of contacts identified.
Going forward, Dr. Brent Roussin says the province will be limiting the details they release about individuals who test positive at schools — and will no longer release specific information on things like their age.
When can a student who tested positive COVID-19 return to the classroom?
Roussin says a student can safely head back to school 10 days after the onset of symptoms, provided they are no longer feverish and show a clear improvement in their symptoms.
For asymptomatic students who test positive for COVID-19, Roussin says they can return to school 10 days after the day they were tested.
For more information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, click here.
