Manitoba added 130 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, along with 2 more deaths.
The deaths include a woman in her 70s from the Northern health region linked to an outbreak at the Thomson General Hospital, and a woman in her 80s linked to the outbreak at Brandon’s Fairview Personal Care Home.
Case numbers have been improving over the past few days — and Dr. Jazz Atwal was asked what Manitoba’s case numbers would have to look like before public health would consider relaxing some restrictions.
“It’s a hard question to answer. It’s not just about case numbers, it’s [also] about the acute care system. We could have small numbers of cases, but if they’re among vulnerable populations, the hospitalizations would be high. I have no black and white answers for you right now — there’s a lot of variables at play.”
When it comes to relaxing restrictions, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the test positivity rate (out of all tests conducted, how many came back positive for COVID-19) should remain at 5% or lower for at least 14 days, before lifting lockdowns.
Today's COVID Numbers
The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 12.6% provincially and 11.9% in Winnipeg. The total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba is now 24,513.
There are 4,444 active cases and 19,408 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.
248 people are in hospital with active COVID-19, and 89 people who are no longer infectious are also in hospital as they continue to require care (337 hospitalizations total).
There are 32 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19, and also four people who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care (36 ICU patients total).
The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 is 661.
Today’s COVID-19 data shows:
• 11 cases in the Interlake–Eastern health region
• 11 cases in the Northern health region
• eight cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• eight cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• 92 cases in the Winnipeg health region
According to the province’s data, there are active cases in the following Parkland health districts: Dauphin (5), Riding Mountain (4), Swan River (2), Porcupine Mountain (88), Duck Mountain (2), Asessippi (3), Little Saskatchewan (4), and Agassiz Mountain (10). Brandon has 41 active cases.
In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has 31 active cases, while Fisher/Peguis has 34.
