Northern Manitoba reported only a handful of new COVID-19 cases July 5 as the province averaged fewer than 60 cases a day since Friday.
Five northern cases were among 65 new infections announced Monday. Only Winnipeg, with 35, and the Prairie Mountain health region with 11, had new case numbers in the double digits July 5.
There are 150 people in Manitoba hospitals as a result of COVID-19, 40 of them in intensive care. There are also six Manitobans in intensive care units in Ontario as a result of their infections.
Ten northerners are in hospital due to COVID, four of them in intensive care.
Four more deaths due to COVID were announced on Monday taking the total to 1,151 since the pandemic began.
Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said July 5 that it is looking as if Manitoba could soon enter a post-pandemic era.
“All pandemics end and this one will be no different,” he said. “We can see perhaps that this pandemic’s days are numbered. I think things are looking quite hopeful for Manitoba’s summer.”
Nearly 75 per cent of Manitobans have now received at least one dose of COVID vaccine, while just over 50 per cent have received two doses. 71 per cent of Northern Regional Health Authority residents have received at least one dose.
The effects of the pandemic continued to be unevenly distributed during the third wave, said Dr. Marcia Anderson, medical lead of the pandemic Response Co-ordination Team. Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) in Manitoba were more likely to get COVID, more likely to be hospitalized and more likely to have severe outcomes despite being younger and having fewer known underlying health conditions than infected people who identified as white. Many were infected before they were eligible to receive vaccines.
Northern Manitoba has now seen 881 infections caused by variants of concern, including 758 caused by the B.1.1.7 or alpha variant and 59 caused by the B.1.617.2 or delta variant. There have also been 64 infections caused by unidentified variants.
Beginning this week, the government is reducing the number of weekly press releases on the COVID-19 situation to five per week on weekdays only, and regular press conferences by provincial public health officials will be held only once a week, on Mondays. Vaccine updates will be provided on Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday, with vaccination press conferences once a week on Wednesdays. Beginning July 31, the provincial government anticipates that COVID-19 press releases will be reduced to twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, and vaccine bulletins to twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays. Public health and vaccination press conferences will continue to be held only once a week. In the fall, the government expects to resume in-person press conferences at the legislature.
