Another five people with COVID-19 have died in Manitoba, including four more deaths connected to outbreaks at St. Boniface Hospital and personal care homes.
Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin also announced new rules for people in the Winnipeg region who are self-isolating due to possible COVID-19 exposure.
If any member of a household has symptoms of COVID-19, the entire household must self-isolate, he said.
The person experiencing symptoms should stay in their own room and, if possible, use their own bathroom and avoid common areas, provincial health officials advise. Health-care workers and first responders who are asymptomatic household members are exempt from the new isolation rules.
Health officials also announced 241 new cases of the illness on Monday, bringing the total number of infections in Manitoba since the start of the pandemic to 6,275.
One of the deaths announced Monday involves a woman in her 80s connected to an outbreak at the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre. The centre first announced her death on the weekend.
The other deaths include a woman in her 50s from the Winnipeg Health region, a woman in her 60s connected to an outbreak at St. Boniface Hospital, a woman in her 70s connected to an outbreak at the Parkview Place outbreak, and a woman in her 90s connected to the Maples Personal Care Home outbreak.
These deaths bring the total in Manitoba since the start of the pandemic to 80.
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 rose slightly to 124, up from 120 on Sunday, including 18 in intensive care units.
Manitoba’s five-day test-positivity rate — a rolling average of the number of COVID-19 tests that come back positive — is now nine per cent, extending a streak of setting new records to a fifth day.
In Winnipeg, the test-positivity rate is 9.8 per cent, although health officials caution that number is less reliable due to the smaller sample size.
Outbreaks have been declared at two more Winnipeg personal care homes: the Convalescent Home of Winnipeg and the Poseidon Care Home. An outbreak at the Calvary Place Personal Care Home in Winnipeg has been declared over.
Provincial data shows there are currently 3,455 active cases in Manitoba, with 2,740 people recovered, although the number of active cases is likely inflated because of a backlog clearing recovered cases, the province says.
More to come
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As the Winnipeg area moved to the red, or critical, level on the province’s pandemic scale, Manitobans will hear from provincial health leaders for the first time since COVID-19 cases reached a record-shattering high on Friday.
Chief Provincial Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin and Manitoba Shared Health Chief Nursing Officer Lanette Siragusa will hold a media briefing at 12:30 p.m. CT. CBC News will live stream the news conference here.
Their news conference will follow one by Premier Brian Pallister, who is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. CBC will also live stream that news conference here.
Over the last three days, Manitoba has reported 1,141 cases of COVID-19, including 480 on Friday — the highest number ever reported on a single day.
The same day, Roussin announced the Winnipeg metropolitan region would move to red, the highest level on the province’s pandemic response system, while the rest of Manitoba would move to the orange, or restricted, level.
The widespread restrictions across the province include reduced capacity or closures of many businesses, smaller gathering sizes, and a requirement that businesses gather contact information from customers to assist in contact tracing.
The new measures will remain in place for at least two weeks.
Cases in Winnipeg have spiked over that past few weeks, with multiple outbreaks in hospitals and personal care homes leading to more cases and deaths, including a record-breaking six deaths reported on Sunday.
Four of those deaths were linked to an outbreak at the Maples Personal Care Home in Winnipeg.
The union representing workers at the Exceldor Co-operative poultry plant in Blumenort, Man., which had 52 positive cases connected with an outbreak there as of Friday, announced a second worker at that plant had died.
The province also announced a new outbreak at Women’s Correctional Centre in Headingley, Man.
The five-day test-positivity rate in Manitoba has been on a four-day record-setting streak, reaching 8.9 per cent on Sunday. The test-positivity rate is a rolling average of the number of COVID-19 tests that come back positive.
Hospital capacity has been strained as cases have spiked, with 120 people in hospital as of Sunday, including 18 in intensive care. Although the provincial government has said there is still capacity in the health system, it is working to create intensive care unit and surgical capacity, if needed.
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