Northern COVID-19 cases see modest decline through most of region, Thompson sees case levels rise

COVID-19 cases are declining in most northern Manitoba health districts - with a few notable exceptions.

Out of the 17 health districts in northern Manitoba - 15 covered by the Northern Health Region (NHR), Churchill (covered by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority) and the "unknown district" designation - 13 are either seeing no change in new cases or seeing their active cases decline.

One of those 13 districts is the Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon district, which remains at one active case as of Friday.  Others seeing big changes for the better are the Grand Rapids/Misipawistik/Moose Lake/Mosakahiken/Easterville/Chemawawin district, where cases dropped overnight from 26 to 17 Friday and Island Lake, where 11 people recovered between Thursday and Friday from COVID-19. Most of the 711 active cases of COVID-19 in northern Manitoba as of Feb. 12 are in the Island Lake district, which now has 380 active cases.

Another 25 new cases were reported in the NHR Friday, with 14 of those cases coming in the Thompson/Mystery Lake district. The district, which has two sites listed as active outbreaks and has had recent cases in five schools in the community, now sits at 81 active cases, the second highest total of any district in the region. Five new cases were found in the Cross Lake/Pimicikamak district, with another three in The Pas/OCN/Kelsey.  For up-to-date case data for all northern Manitoba districts, see below.

Manitoba as a province announced 81 new cases Friday and four further deaths from COVID-19, all in the Winnipeg region. In total, 1,582 people in Manitoba have active COVID-19 cases. A total of 240 people are in Manitoba hospitals due to COVID-19, with 29 of those people in intensive care.

No new outbreaks or public exposures to COVID-19 in northern Manitoba were announced Friday.

Saskatchewan reported 195 new cases Feb. 12, along with two deaths - one in the central east zone and another in Saskatoon.

Out of the 195 new cases announced Friday, nine were in the far north east health zone, along with one other case that had been previously announced but for which a location was pending. Two of those cases were reported in the far north east 2 health zone, which contains Creighton, Denare Beach, Pelican Narrows, Sandy Bay and other Saskatchewan communities. No finer information about the locations of those cases has been provided by provincial health officials.