Manitoba reported two new positive tests for COVID-19 April 15, as well as the fifth death in the province related to the pandemic.
The person who died was a woman in her 60s from the Prairie Mountain health region who had underlying medical conditions and was hospitalized when she died, though not in intensive care.
Two previous probable cases were also announced to have turned out not to be COVID-19, so the total number of cases in the province remains at 246.
Active cases dropped to 132 and 108 people infected with the novel coronavirus are considered recovered.
The number of health care workers in the province who have tested positive for COVID-19 is 21, nine of whom are now considered recovered and have returned to work. Seven of those 21 workers were nurses and three were medical staff while the remainder were support staff. Two of the health care workers who tested positive for COVID-19 were in the Interlake-Eastern health region and the rest were in Winnipeg.
The number of positive tests for the coronavirus in the Northern Regional Health Authority area remains at three.
Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said there is reason to believe that social distancing, testing and tracing of close contacts with known cases of COVID-19 infections are having the desired effect but that doesn’t mean restrictions should be eased up yet.
“We should be optimistic but we should not loosen our grip right now on these measures,” Roussin said. “This is still a vital time, a very critical time in our outbreak. It’s our actions that are getting us through this.”
He also said that with nicer weather, people are free to go outside within their own yards or in parks, provided they aren’t busy, but that gatherings are still not advised.
“You shouldn’t invite your neighbours over to your backyard,” said Roussin, adding that additional public health measures may be added later this week to the public health order that was already extended by another two weeks to April 28. However, if the number of new cases continues to remain low and the number of active cases maintains its downward trend, Roussin said some restrictions on business operations and other activities may begin to be lifted relatively soon.
Roussin also reminded people with other health conditions not to wait to seek treatment, as medical staff have reported people not coming to hospitals or other health care facilities as early as they should for assessment of conditions unrelated to COVID-19.
"Our health care system is safe to utilize,” he said. “Do not let other health conditions get out of hand during these times.”
There were 27,557 cases of COVID-19 across Canada April 15 and 954 people have died as a result of the virus.
