Manitoba is now seeing more active cases of COVID-19 than ever before - including in the north.
A new case of COVID-19 was announced in the Thompson-Mystery Lake health district, the third such case to be reported during the pandemic. No other data about the new case, including possible sites of exposure or how the case may be connected to other cases, has been released by health officials.
The City of Thompson issued a statement about the new case, advising the public to stay home when they show possible COVID-19 symptoms, socially distance and stay home when possible.
“Public health nurses and staff are already conducting extensive contact tracing and monitoring and the City of Thompson is working closely with the Northern Health Region and community partners to help contain this event,” reads the statement.
As of Oct. 5, 12 cases of COVID-19 remain active in northern Manitoba - eight in the Shamattawa/York Factory/Tataskweyak/Split Lake district, two in the Bunibonibee/Oxford House/Manto Sipi/God’s River/God’s Lake district and one each in Island Lake and the Thompson/Mystery Lake districts. Six cases of COVID-19 have been previously reported and recovered within the region.
The province now has 739 active cases of the disease, making it 2,191 total cases of the disease found since the pandemic began. As of Oct. 5, twenty-three people are in hospital in Manitoba with COVID-19, six of whom are in intensive care.
Manitoba has reported at least 25 new cases of COVID-19 each day since Sept. 23. That trend continued Oct. 5, with 51 more cases reported - 35 new cases were found in Winnipeg.
According to provincial data and results from the 2016 census, there are now more active cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba than there are people living in Cranberry Portage.
Possible exposures were listed at the IQRA School, College Louis-Riel at and the restaurant Chaise Corydon, all of which were in Winnipeg. Another exposure was listed at Stonewall Collegiate. The province has said contact tracing has led health officials to believe the people at these sites who tested positive do not appear to have contracted the disease at these locations.
The provincial capital and nearby communities remain at a heightened state of restrictions, with
Tightened limits on restaurants and bars in Winnipeg were also announced, with liquor sales in licensed locations cut off between 10 p.m.-9 a.m. and all people inside gone by 11 p.m. Dine-in services must be closed from 11 p.m.-6 a.m. in all licensed establishments.
Staff at restaurants, bars, pubs and similar locations will need contact information from at least one person in every group that enters an establishment and will need to keep it on hand for three weeks afterward - once the three-week limit is reached, that information will then be destroyed.
Meanwhile, the federal COVID Alert app is now available in Manitoba. The new app will provide anyone who downloads it instant alerts if the user has been near someone who has tested positive for the disease. People who test positive for COVID-19 will be given a one-time pass key to type into the app, which will buzz into any phones that have been located near the user's phone during a time where they may have been contagious. The app used Bluetooth to detect when user's phones are near each other and doesn't collect a user's personal data, health information, location, name, address or contacts.
Saskatchewan
While COVID-19 has exploded in the past month in Manitoba, Saskatchewan’s case load appears to be on a much lower level. The province announced nine new cases Oct. 5, with five in the central east region which includes Yorkton, where several community areas have been deemed possible transmission sites. One case each was found in Saskatoon, Regina and in the south central and south east regions.
One hundred and 143 people have COVID-19 in Saskatchewan on Oct. 5, with one person in hospital in Regina in intensive care.
