Northern Manitoba continues to have the province's highest COVID-19 rate - but the Flin Flon district is improving.
Despite reporting a new case of COVID-19 Friday, the district is now down to six active cases of the disease. A pair of new recoveries were reported in the district Friday.
Across the provincial border in Saskatchewan's far north east health zone, 16 new cases of COVID-19 were reported Friday, bringing the region up to 98 remaining active cases. It is unknown where in the district the cases currently are - Saskatchewan is updating its data reporting systems and up-to-date, health zone by health zone case numbers have not been updated since Wednesday.
Recently, COVID--19 cases in the district have been concentrated in the far north east 1 district, centering around La Ronge. At last report on Jan. 27, the far north east 2 health district (which covers Creighton, Denare Beach, Pelican Narrows and other nearby communities) had 33 active COVID-19 cases.
Once again, the majority of Manitoba's new COVID-19 cases are located in the north, with the Northern Health Region (NHR) reporting 81 of the province's 152 new net cases. The NHR has had 3,750 active cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, with 1,837 of those cases still active according to the province - more than five per cent of people in northern Manitoba have either had or have COVID-19.
The most new cases were reported in the Thompson/Mystery Lake district, which reported 30 new cases of the disease and a new outbreak. The outbreak has been reported at the Wapanohk Community School in Thompson - no information about case numbers at the school has been released by the provincial government. The school has now moved to remote learning until at least Feb. 8.
There are now four active COVID-19 outbreaks listed by the provincial government in northern Manitoba. Two outbreaks are in Thompson at Wapanohk school and at the Northern Spirit Manor, where two staff members tested positive and have since recovered. One outbreak is in effect in The Pas at the St. Paul's Residence personal care home, where one resident has tested positive for COVID-19 and is still listed as an active case. The fourth outbreak is at the Lynn Lake Hospital, where three people - one staff member and two other people - tested positive. All three people have since recovered from the disease.
Nineteen more cases were found in the Lynn Lake/Marcel Colomb/Leaf Rapids/O-Pipon-Na-Piwin/Granville Lake district, bringing the region up to 95 active cases. The Island Lake district, the hardest hit area in the province, reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 - that district now has 735 active cases of COVID-19, more than any other Manitoba district except Winnipeg.
Three more deaths from COVID-19 were announced in Manitoba Jan. 29, all in the Winnipeg region.
In the south, COVID-19 rates in southern Manitoba are dropping fast. In the past five days, fewer than five per cent of people in Winnipeg who have undergone a COVID-19 have had a positive result, while the province as a whole has a 7.5 per cent test positivity rate. A total of 272 people, including 36 in the north, are in hosptial due to COVID-19, along with 39 people - including five northerners - in intensive care.
In Saskatchewan, there were 328 cases of COVID-19 announced, along with seven additional deaths from the disease. Saskatchewan now has 218 people in hospital, including 33 people in intensive care, due to COVID-19.
