143 new COVID-19 cases, 2 deaths reported in Manitoba Wednesday
CBC
The province's top doctor is hinting at further restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 as Manitoba recorded another triple-digit daily case count and more deaths from the virus Wednesday.
Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba's chief public health officer, and Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead of the province's vaccine task force, are speaking at the news conference, which CBC News is live streaming online.
There were 143 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths in Manitoba on Wednesday, the provincial coronavirus dashboard says.
There have now been 1,268 deaths from COVID-19 in Manitoba. Details such as the age, sex and location of the latest deaths were not released via the online dashboard.
The five-day test positivity rate for Manitoba has increased to 6.2 per cent.
The test positivity rate remains highest in the Southern Health region, where it is 15.6 per cent, up more than one percentage point since Friday, according to internal provincial data leaked to the CBC. It was 14.3 per cent on Friday.
There are now 143 patients in hospital with COVID-19, up from 138 on Tuesday. That includes 28 in intensive care.
The highest number of cases reported Wednesday was in the Southern Health region, which has 66 new cases.
The Winnipeg health region has 33 new cases, the Prairie Mountain Health region has 29, the Interlake-Eastern health region has 10 and the Northern Health Region has five.
Of the new cases reported, 84 were in people not vaccinated, 54 were in fully vaccinated people, and five were reported in people only partially vaccinated.
Public health officials gave an update on COVID-19 in Manitoba via Zoom on Wednesday afternoon, a day after the province broke another fourth-wave record for new cases.
The current trends are going "in the wrong direction" and are impacting all regions, Roussin said during the news conference.
Roussin said the province is weighing its options, which could include stricter restrictions. More information will be coming on that soon, he said.
"It's obviously disappointing being in this situation, when we've known for quite some time now what we all need to do to limit the transmission of this virus and the risk of severe outcomes," Roussin said.
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