Roussin says 5 new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba are no cause for alarm

Manitoba's top doctor says he's not alarmed by the end of the province's nearly two-week streak without a new case of COVID-19.

On Tuesday, health officials announced Manitoba has five new cases of COVID-19, breaking a 13-day streak with no new cases.

"This is completely what we've been expecting. We know we're not done with this virus and this virus isn't done with us," Dr. Brent Roussin, the province's chief public health officer, told CBC a few hours after the announcement.

The five new cases announced Tuesday span three separate health regions in the province. They are the most in a single day since April 23, when the province also announced five new cases.

The new cases involve a female between the ages of 10 and 19 from the Southern Health region and a woman in her 30s from the Southern Health region, a man in his 20s and a woman in her 20s from the Winnipeg health region, and a man in his 40s from the Interlake Health region.

Roussin said the province has confirmed three of the five new cases are related to travel, while the sources of the other two are still being investigated.

One of the new cases involves a person who was a passenger on WestJet Flight 261 from Winnipeg to Calgary on June 27 and WestJet Flight 526 from Calgary to Winnipeg on July 2.

The province is in the process of confirming which rows on those flights were affected and will provide an update online. Health officials advise passengers on those flights to self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19, and to self-isolate if they develop symptoms.

The province is working on determining the source of the new infections, but health officials assessed the risk to others as low.

"Further investigations are ongoing and any additional information will be provided as needed once investigations are complete to inform people of any public health risks," a spokesperson for Manitoba Health said in an email.

There are currently no COVID-19 cases in Manitoba hospitals.

Including the five cases now active in the province, Manitoba has had a total of 330 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, and 318 people have recovered from the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

The number of deaths remains at seven, the last of which was reported in early May.

On Tuesday, the province of Manitoba extended its state of emergency, which began on March 20, for another 30-day period.