124 new cases of COVID-19, 2 deaths reported in Manitoba on Wednesday

Manitoba reports 124 new cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths on Wednesday.

There are 48 new cases in the Southern Health region (31 of them not fully vaccinated), 31 in the Winnipeg health region (15 not fully vaccinated), 21 in the Interlake-Eastern health region (12 not fully vaccinated), 20 in the Prairie Mountain Health region (eight not fully vaccinated) and four in the Northern Health Region (three not fully vaccinated).

No cases of the B.1.1.529 or omicron variant have been detected in Manitoba at this time, though a few have emerged in in Ottawa, Quebec and most recently in Alberta.

At this time, 24 people who have travelled to 10 African countries and arrived in Manitoba are being required to quarantine, Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin said in an online news conference on Wednesday.

Officials are sequencing all positive travel-related COVID-19 test results to monitor for the presence of omicron in Manitoba.

Little is known yet about exactly how transmissible or deadly it is compared to other variants, but the World Health Organization's announcement about it influenced a range of countries, including Canada, to announce strict border controls in recent days. 

Even in the presence of a new variant of concern, Dr. Joss Reimer, the medical lead of the vaccine implementation task force, said she is optimistic because Manitoba children are now eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

"The five to 11 age group was making up an increasing proportion of all of our cases because they weren't vaccinated, they didn't have access. And even with the omicron variant being a potential risk that we haven't yet seen in Manitoba, but certainly could, the vaccine is still the best tool to protect Manitobans," she said at the news conference.

The pediatric dose was tested on children when the delta or B.1.617 variant was the dominant variant of concern, which provides even more reason to be optimistic, Reimer said.

"The 91 per cent efficacy that they saw in the study was looking at delta, so already looking at a variant that was more concerning than the original strain," she said.

"They will protect against it. It's a variant, but it's the same virus. We know the vaccine will produce immunity that will protect all of us."

The deaths reported Wednesday are two men in their 90s — one from the Southern Health region linked to the outbreak at Third Crossing Manor and one from the Winnipeg health region linked to the outbreak at Grace Hospital in the 4 North surgery unit.

The province also provided additional data on the four people whose deaths were reported on Tuesday:

The total number of deaths in Manitoba caused by the virus is now 1,321. There are 1,383 active cases and 65,295 people have recovered.