A woman in her 70s from the Grand Rapids/Mosakahiken/Moose Lake/Easterville/Chemawawin health district whose death from COVID-19 was announced Nov. 24 is the sixth person from the Northern Regional Health Authority to die from the virus.
That was one of 12 COVID-19 deaths reported by the provincial government on Tuesday, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 248, with nearly 70 per cent of that total coming since the beginning of November.
Thirty-eight new cases in Northern Manitoba, excluding Churchill, were among 476 new positive tests for the virus that the province announced Nov. 24. These included 13 new cases in The Pas/Opaskwyak Cree Nation/Kelsey health district, eight new cases in the Thompson/Mystery Lake health district, four new cases in the Island Lake health district and two new cases each in the Grand Rapids/Mosakahiken/Moose Lake/Easterville/Chemawawin health district and the Shamattawa/York Factory/Tataskweyak/Split Lake health district. There are 444 active cases in the north as of Tuesday.
A second outbreak has also been announced in Flin Flon, at the Northern Lights Manor personal care home.
The number of people in Manitoba hospitals due to COVID-19 is 292 and 47 of those are in intensive care. There are 10 northerners in hospital due to the virus, none of whom are in intensive care.
A pair of new possible exposures to the virus on flights to and from the north were announced by the province Nov. 24. One possible exposure occurred on a flight from Winnipeg to St. Theresa Point Nov. 1 and another on a flight from St. Theresa Point to Winnipeg Nov. 4.
Manitoba’s test positivity rate jumped back above 14 per cent on Tuesday, to 14.2 per cent.
The province also announced that it is introducing an automated calling system to supplement current methods used for case and contact monitoring. This system will be first used to determine if active cases can now be marked as recovered and then to contact cases and their related contacts to allow public health officials to contact more people more quickly.
