COVID-19 case rates jumped in Manitoba Wednesday, with 400 more people testing positive - but as of Dec. 22, no one in the Flin Flon districts in Manitoba or Saskatchewan has an active case.
Health data from both Manitoba and Saskatchewan has provided an early Christmas gift for the region. The Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon health district has no active cases as of Dec. 22, while the Saskatchewan far north east 2 health zone, for the first time in months, has no active COVID-19 cases since Dec. 20.
The Flin Flon district has seen 363 people test positive since the pandemic began, but no cases are active in the region as of Dec. 22. The far north east 2 zone, which covers Flin Flon, Sask., Creighton, Denare Beach, Pelican Narrows, Sandy Bay and other communities in the region, has seen both small isolated cases and larger community outbreaks throughout recent waves, but the region is - for the moment - free of the disease. One case of COVID-19 is currently active in the far north east zone, but that case is in the far north east 1 part of the zone, centred mostly around La Ronge.
Saskatchewan has only 556 total active COVID-19 cases listed province-wide as of Dec. 21, with most in Saskatoon and Regina. While the numbers have declined in recent weeks, so too have the number of COVID-19 tests conducted in the province - while Manitoba conducted almost 2,300 tests on Dec. 19, Saskatchewan conducted less than 1,100 tests on the same day.
The situation across northern Manitoba includes a handful of outbreaks in remote communities. A total of 373 northern Manitoba residents are listed as active cases according to Manitoba health data, with some districts seeing more than 100 people with the disease.
Most cases now are centred around the Island Lake and Grand Rapids/Misipawistik/Moose Lake/Mosakahiken/Easterville/Chemawawin health districts. The Island Lake district now has 136 active cases and is the first northern district in Manitoba to see over 2,000 total COVID-19 cases. Meanwhile, the Grand Rapids district now has 114 active cases listed in provincial health data. The two districts combine for about two-thirds of all cases in the Northern Health Region (NHR).
| Cases by northern district (Manitoba) | active cases | recoveries | deaths | total cases |
| Bay Line | 0 | 112 | 1 | 113 |
| Bunibonibee/Oxford House/Manto Sipi/Gods River/Gods Lake | 55 | 640 | 7 | 702 |
| Churchill (covered by Winnipeg Regional Health Authority) | 0 | 18 | 0 | 18 |
| Cross Lake/Pimicikamak | 18 | 782 | 8 | 808 |
| Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon | 0 | 359 | 4 | 363 |
| Gillam/Fox Lake | 0 | 92 | 0 | 92 |
| Grand Rapids/Misipawistik/Moose Lake/Mosakahiken/Easterville/Chemawawin | 114 | 794 | 7 | 915 |
| Island Lake | 136 | 1900 | 9 | 2045 |
| Lynn Lake/Marcel Colomb/Leaf Rapids/O-Pipon-Na-Piwin/Granville Lake | 0 | 344 | 3 | 347 |
| Nelson House/Nisichawayasihk | 0 | 57 | 0 | 57 |
| Norway House | 16 | 593 | 4 | 613 |
| Pukatawagan/Mathias Colomb | 25 | 656 | 2 | 683 |
| Sayisi Dene/Tadoule/Barren Lands/Brochet/Northlands/Lac Brochet | 0 | 71 | 1 | 72 |
| Shamattawa/York Factory/Tataskweyak/Split Lake | 0 | 684 | 4 | 688 |
| The Pas/Opaskwayak/Kelsey | 2 | 949 | 12 | 963 |
| Thompson/Mystery Lake | 2 | 1056 | 3 | 1061 |
| Unknown district | 5 | 391 | 1 | 397 |
| Case totals as of Dec. 22 | 373 | 9498 | 66 | 9937 |
Other regions with high caseloads include the Bunibonibee/Oxford House/Manto Sipi/Gods River/Gods Lake (55 active cases), Pukatawagan/Mathias Colomb Cree Nation (25 active cases), Cross Lake/Pimicikamak (18 active cases) and Norway House (16 active cases) districts.
While overall caseloads remain high up north, the number of severely ill people appears to be low. Five northerners are hospitalized due to COVID-19, with none in intensive care as of Dec. 22.
Throughout Manitoba, 2,183 people have active cases as of Dec. 22 - more than the combined populations of Creighton and Denare Beach. A total of 137 people are in Manitoba hospitals due to COVID-19, including 24 patients in intensive care, a decrease from last week.
With the new omicron variant on the horizon, Manitoba saw a spike in new cases over the weekend, clearing 200 cases province-wide on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, clearing 300 cases Sunday and reporting exactly 400 new cases Wednesday. Most of the new cases were found in Winnipeg, where 456 people (out of 702 province-wide) have tested positive for COVID-19 since Monday.
The Pukatawagan/Mathias Colomb Cree Nation area is still considered a community outbreak due to large-scale communal spread of COVID-19.
