COVID-19 has taken two different paths in Manitoba and Saskatchewan - while Manitoba's active case load dropped Wednesday, Saskatchewan saw one of its biggest spikes yet.
Three new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Manitoba July 29, bumping the province's total number of cases to 407 and the total number of active cases to 74. Two of the cases, identified by the province as a man in his 30s and a woman in her 50s, were reported in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority - the third case, a woman in her 30s, was found in Winnipeg.
The three new cases were joined by seven new recoveries from COVID-19, bringing a net decrease to Manitoba's active case load. Another case, previously announced July 25, was wiped off the books by the province, according to a provincial report, because an "investigation determined the individual had recovered from a previous infection from another province."
Province-wide, 665 tests were conducted July 28.
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan reported 50 new cases of COVID-19, mostly coming from the north region. Forty-four cases of COVID-19 were found Wednesday in north Saskatchewan, along with three in the south, two in Regina and one in central Saskatchewan. The increase is the second-biggest one-day increase in new cases since the pandemic began - only topped by the 60 cases announced on July 22.
In a report issued July 29, the province said the increase was "a result of aggressive contact tracing and increased testing". According to the province, 1,355 COVID-19 tests were done in Saskatchewan July 28.
Forty-four cases are linked to what the province called "one communal living setting". It is unclear if all the cases are relating to one family, where the group was located or if the new cases are, like several outbreaks around the province, tied to high case numbers in Hutterite communities.
In total, 322 people in Saskatchewan have COVID-19 as of July 29, with 1,268 confirmed cases of the disease found in the province since the pandemic began.
Fifteen people are now in hospital in Saskatchewan with COVID-19, with five of those people in intensive care. The 44 new northern cases mean 64 total active cases are located in the northern portion of Saskatchewan - 58 active cases in the north and six in the far north.
Twenty-three areas in Saskatchewan, including the City of Swift Current, are listed by the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) as areas of "ongoing concern" for COVID-19 infection control. The areas, mostly rural municipalities in the southwest corner of the province, have all seen community based transmission of COVID-19.
