Manitoba sees another slight rise in daily COVID-19 cases, with 222 announced Friday
9 deaths announced; pandemic restrictions extended 2 more weeks as cases linked to holiday gatherings rise
Manitoba announced 222 more COVID-19 cases on Friday — a rise in the daily number of new cases after days of counts that hovered below 200.
That update came shortly after the province extended its public health orders for two more weeks, with tweaks that will allow the Winnipeg Jets to play home games during the pandemic.
A spike in cases following winter holidays prevented any other loosening of Manitoba's current rules, Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin said at a news conference.
More than 355 recent COVID-19 cases and nearly 1,900 contacts have been definitively linked to holiday gatherings — including some that saw more than two dozen people get together, he said.
"Our numbers were going in the right direction, but now we're at risk of reversing that," Roussin said.
The province's five-day test positivity rate is now up to 10.1 per cent, a provincial news release says, after it dropped below 10 per cent on Thursday for the first time in nearly two months. In Winnipeg, that rate is 10.3 per cent.
Nine more deaths linked to the illness caused by the novel coronavirus were also announced Friday. They include three people in their 50s from Winnipeg and four deaths linked to outbreaks in care homes and health-care facilities across the province.
COVID-19 outbreaks have been declared at Actionmarguerite St. Vital in Winnipeg, Menno Home Personal Care Home in Grunthal and Lions Prairie Manor in Portage la Prairie, the release says.
Outbreaks are now over at Eastview Place in Altona, the Portage District General Hospital Medicine Unit and Villa Youville Personal Care Home in Ste. Anne.
There are now 315 COVID-19 patients in hospital in Manitoba, including 35 in intensive care.
While most people in hospital (102) are in their 60s and 70s, COVID-19 patients in Manitoba span all age categories, Shared Health Chief Nursing Officer Lanette Siragusa said.
Four of the people in hospital right now are under 20, and 15 are in their 20s and 30s. Another 43 are in their 40s and 50s, while 61 are in their 80s and 90s and two are over 100, she said.
Procedures rescheduled
As hospitalization numbers stabilize and drop, the province is feeling "cautiously optimistic" and will start rescheduling some elective procedures put on hold beginning Monday, Siragusa said at the news conference.
Procedures like joint replacements and some eye surgeries will be among the first being rescheduled at the Misericordia Health Centre, the Concordia Hospital, the Pan Am Clinic and the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, Siragusa said.
About 60 rescheduled procedures will be done over the next week. Sites in other health regions could also start rescheduling procedures soon, she said.
There were 2,386 COVID-19 tests done in Manitoba on Thursday, bringing Manitoba's average number of swabs done back up after a drop over the holidays. To date, there have been 435,227 tests for the illness done in the province, the release says.
The latest deaths announced in Manitoba, which bring the province's total to 726, include two women (in their 70s and 90s) linked to Brandon's Fairview Personal Care Home, a woman in her 50s linked to the outbreak at the Health Sciences Centre's GH4 unit in Winnipeg and a woman in her 60s connected to the outbreak at Winnipeg's Southeast Personal Care Home, the release says.
Also among the latest deaths are a man in his 70s from the Northern Health region, a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region and a woman in her 90s from the Prairie Mountain Health region.
Just under half the new cases on Friday are in the Winnipeg region (97) and slightly less than that (69) are in the Northern Health region, the release says. The remaining new cases are split between the Prairie Mountain Health region (27), the Interlake-Eastern health region (16) and the Southern Health region (13).
There have now been 20,655 recoveries from COVID-19 in Manitoba and another 4,582 cases still considered active, though health officials have said that number is inflated by a data entry backlog.
Places where there were possible COVID-19 exposures are listed by region on the province's website.
One previously announced COVID-19 case was removed from Manitoba's totals because of a data correction, bringing the total number of cases identified in the province to 25,963.
WATCH | Full news conference on COVID-19 | Jan. 8, 2021:
