91 New Cases Reported Thursday, 6 in PMH

Today 91 new cases of COVID-19 and one new death were announced in Manitoba.

Public health officials are announcing 11 additional confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7. COVID-19 variant of concern first identified in the United Kingdom. Out of these cases, nine are from the Winnipeg Health Region, and two are from the Southern Health Region.

One confirmed case of the B.1.351 COVID-19 variant of concern first identified in South Africa has been detected in the Prairie Mountain Health region today.

The total number of variant cases of concern in the province is 76.

Today’s new COVID-19 cases are in the following health regions:
• four cases in Interlake–Eastern health region
• 42 cases in the Northern health region
• six cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• six cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• 33 cases in the Winnipeg health region

There have been a total number of 33,085 cases identified and 918 deaths in the province since the start of the pandemic.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 4.7 per cent provincially and 3.6 per cent in Winnipeg.

There are 1,089 active cases and 31,078 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.

There are 60 people in hospital with active COVID-19 and 86 people in hospital with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 146 hospitalizations.

There are 11 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 and 12 people with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, for a total of 23 ICU patients.

According to the province’s data, there are active cases of COVID-19 in the following Parkland health districts: Dauphin (0), Duck Mountain (4), Porcupine Mountain (4), Asessippi (3), and Little Saskatchewan (4). Brandon has 8 active cases.

In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has zero active cases, and the Fisher/Peguis health district has five.

Details: Contributed by 730 CKDM; Published: Mar 18, 2021 - 1:07 pm

The Manitoba government is looking for feedback on the possible relaxation of health restrictions.

The current set of public health orders is due for an update on Friday, March 26^th.

The province has released another online survey for Manitobans to provide their feedback on the potential easing of restrictions.

Possible changes to the COVID-19 restrictions include:

Increasing outside gathering limits
Expanding capacity at retail stores and religious services
Expanding indoor restaurant dining criteria to include a household and their designated visitors
Allowing organized team games at indoor sporting facilities
Removing the requirement that youth must wear a mask while taking part in indoor sporting activities, such as hockey or soccer
Enabling indoor theatres, indoor concert halls, casino and gaming centres to open at limited capacity levels
Removing the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days for interprovincial/domestic travellers who travel for business reasons and do not have symptoms

Premier Brian Pallister says the province is now in a position to consider moving Manitoba to level orange, or restricted, on the pandemic response system.

You can read the full list of proposed changes by the province here.

If you'd like to provide feedback on the restrictions, you can find the survey here.

Details: Contributed by Tess Kovach; Published: Mar 18, 2021 - 11:51 am

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2034 has called off its general strike.

The union that represents over 2,300 Manitoba Hydro workers announced on Wednesday that all of its members would be on strike as of midnight on Thursday, March 18th.

The union says a final contract offer came in early Thursday morning, and members are set to hold a vote before going ahead with the strike.

Some front-line Hydro workers began striking last week.

Members set up a picket line outside of Dauphin’s Manitoba Hydro building on Friday.

Details: Contributed by Tess Kovach; Published: Mar 18, 2021 - 11:00 am

Canadian-US border restrictions are being extended until April 21st.

United States officials made the announcement over Twitter yesterday that restrictions for non-essential travel will not be lifted for at least another month.

The announcement comes days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it’s too early to reopen the border, and that it isn’t an immediate priority.

The border has been closed to non-essential travel since March 21^st 2020.

Details: Contributed by 730 CKDM; Published: Mar 18, 2021 - 9:20 am

A youth has been charged with 2nd-degree murder in the death of a woman whose remains were found in Portage la Prairie in September of 2020.

RCMP announced a 16-year old male from Winnipeg is now facing charges in connection to the death of 36-year-old Tamara Benoit.

Police say this is the same youth who was arrested in January 2021 and released without charges, who was 15 at that time.

He is remanded in custody.

Tamara Benoit was reported missing on July 10th, 2020 and was last seen in Portage la Prairie.

Her remains were discovered in Portage on September 3.

In January of 2021, police announced 2nd-degree murder charges for two other individuals in connection to the homicide investigation.

Details: Contributed by Matt Hamel; Published: Mar 17, 2021 - 5:52 pm

This Thursday there will be pop-up clinics providing COVID-19 immunizations in several local communities — including Dauphin, Ashern, and Portage la Prairie.

Similar to the immunizations at the supersites (in Brandon, Winnipeg, Thompson and Selkirk), the pop-up clinics in smaller communities are by appointment only.

Eligible Manitobans can call 1-844-626-8222 (1-844-MAN-VACC) to book an appointment, however there may be few appointments still open at the pop-up clinics happening this week.

Appointments at supersites can now be made online here with an email address and health card number.

On Wednesday, eligibility criteria to be immunized at a supersite or pop-up clinic were expanded to include individuals aged 73 or older and First Nation people aged 53 or older.

Click here to see the popup clinic schedule, with hours of operation and clinic locations.

AstraZeneca Update

With the national vaccine advisory committee approving the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in those over the age of 64, the provincial vaccine task force announced how that will affect the way it’s used in Manitoba.

Medical lead for Manitoba's vaccine task force Dr. Joss Reimer said it won’t immediately change our plans, but called it great news for Manitobans in the long run.

“That doesn’t change the fact that we only have 18,000 doses of AstraZeneca available. So for now we will be sticking with the current eligibility criteria and continue to make it available through doctor's offices and pharmacies.”

The AstraZeneca is currently available for Manitobans aged 50 to 64 years — and First Nations people aged 30 to 64 — with a high-risk condition.

The AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccine is now available through some medical clinics and pharmacies. The online map shows appointments are still available at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy and the Dauphin Medical Clinic. Click here to see more.

Reimer also spoke to some concerns over the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine, after several European countries halted its use this week linking it to blood clots.

“We are not seeing that here,” said Reimer, adding “the version of AstraZeneca being used in Europe is not the same as the [AstraZeneca batch] being used in Canada — we don’t have the same batch. But even if it was the same batch, there’s no indication that the vaccine has caused any of the adverse reactions being reported in Europe. In fact, in the UK where they’ve administered 11 million doses of AstraZeneca, they have not seen an increased risk of blood clots.”

Details: Contributed by Matt Hamel; Published: Mar 17, 2021 - 5:37 pm

The Dauphin Regional Library is holding a virtual storytime featuring a local author.

The virtual event will take place over the noon hour on March 25^th.

Parkland Regional Library Director, Allison Moss, says author Alli Mackenzie, who grew up in Dauphin, will read her book “Robbie the Robot Steals the Moon”.

“So Alli will read her book and then there will be a little bit of a question and answer period. Tara, our children’s librarian will do a mini interview.”

Moss says they’re also holding a colouring contest, and the winner will get a signed copy of Alli’s book.

“We’re going to run a colouring contest. It’s a pretty informal contest. We want you to draw a picture of what you think a good robot looks like. Then you can put your name on it and your parent’s phone number, and stick it through the book slot drop or you can drop it off at the library.”

For more information and to register, you can call the library at 204-638-6410, email Tara at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or click here to register online.

Details: Contributed by Tess Kovach; Published: Mar 17, 2021 - 3:00 pm

Today Manitoba health officials expanded the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility criteria.

Manitobans aged 73 and older, and First Nations people aged 53 and older can now book vaccine appointments at all five supersites in the province in Winnipeg, Brandon, Selkirk, Thompson, and Morden, and at vaccine pop-up clinics.

To book an appointment you can call 1-844-626-8222. Manitobans can now book appointments at vaccine supersites online by clicking here.

Today public health officials announced 96 new cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths today.

Public health officials are announcing nine additional confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant of concern first identified in the United Kingdom. The cases identified today are all from the Winnipeg health region.

The total number of variant cases identified in the province is 46.

Today’s new COVID-19 cases are in the following health regions:
• two cases in Interlake-Eastern health region
• 51 cases in the Northern health region
• one case in Prairie Mountain Health
• two cases in Southern Health-Santé Sud
• 40 cases in the Winnipeg health region

There have been a total of 32,996 cases identified and 917 deaths in the province since the start of the pandemic.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 4.4 percent provincially and 3.4 percent in Winnipeg.

There are 1,035 active cases and 31,044 people have recovered from COVID-19.

There are 61 people in hospital with active COVID-19 and 88 people in hospital who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 149 hospitalizations.

There are 10 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 and 11 people who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, for a total of 21 ICU patients.

According to the province’s data, there are active cases of COVID-19 in the following Parkland health districts: Dauphin (0), Duck Mountain (2), Porcupine Mountain (3), Asessippi (2), and Little Saskatchewan (5). Brandon has 8 active cases.

In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has one active case, and the Fisher/Peguis health district has four.

Details: Contributed by Tess Kovach; Published: Mar 17, 2021 - 1:11 pm

The body of a 15-year-old boy who was reported missing on Sunday has been found in Duck Mountain Provincial Park.

RCMP say Jaxon MacDonald was last seen leaving a home in the jubilee subdivision of Duck Mountain Provincial Park at around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday.

MacDonald’s remains were found shortly before noon on Tuesday, Mar. 16 on an island on Madge Lake.

RCMP have not released any more details on MacDonald’s death, and continue to investigate.

Details: Contributed by Tess Kovach; Published: Mar 16, 2021 - 4:27 pm

Manitoba health officials announced 111 new cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths today.

Officials are confirming 13 new cases of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant of concern first detected in the U.K., and one case of the B.1.351 variant first detected in South Africa.

The number of variant cases reported in Manitoba is 55.

There have been a total of 32,903 cases province-wide. The number of deaths is 917.

Today’s new COVID-19 cases are from the following health regions:
• one case in Interlake–Eastern health region
• 71 cases in the Northern health region
• three cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• five cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• 31 cases in the Winnipeg health region

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 5.2 percent provincially and 3.7 percent in Winnipeg.

There are 989 active cases and 30,997 people have recovered from COVID-19.

There are 58 people in hospital with active COVID-19 and 93 people in who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 151 hospitalizations.

There are 10 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 and 12 people with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, for a total of 22 ICU patients.

According to the province’s data, there are active cases of COVID-19 in the following Parkland health districts: Dauphin (0), Duck Mountain (2), Porcupine Mountain (3), Asessippi (2), and Little Saskatchewan (6). Brandon has 9 active cases.

In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has no active cases, and the Fisher/Peguis health district has four.