A second death related to COVID-19 was announced in Manitoba April 3.
The person who died was a man in his 50s from the Winnipeg area who had an underlying medical condition.
The number of hospitalizations for coronavirus infections also continues to grow, with nine people hospitalized as of Friday, six of them in intensive care.
“We’re seeing severe outcomes,” said chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin."We know that we're going to see more and more cases."
A total of 15 news cases were announced in the latest update, bringing the provincial total to 182. No new positive tests in the Northern Regional Health Authority area, which has two confirmed cases, were reported on Friday.
Eleven people who tested positive for COVID-19 are currently listed as recovered, which means 14 days have passed since they started showing symptoms and are no longer symptomatic.
Cadham Provincial Laboratory completed 634 tests on Thursday, bringing the total so far in the province to 11,952.
Roussin reiterated that social distancing is key to interrupting and slowing the transmission of COVID-19.
“Stay home if you can,” said Roussin, no matter where you are in the province or how many cases have been reported in your area, particularly if you are feeling ill.
People with possible COVID-19 symptoms such as a fever, a cough or difficulty breathing who have recently returned from travel, work in health care, live in group settings such as correctional facilities or in First Nations are the priority groups for testing, Roussin says. There haven't been positive tests in any First Nation in Manitoba as of April 3.
“There’s no indication to test asymptomatic people,” said Roussin.
Manitobans who think they may have COVID-19 can use an online screening tool at www.manitoba.ca/covid19/ to determine if they should call Health Links-Info Santé at 204-788-8200 or 1-888-315-9257 for a telephone screening by a health care professional.
As of April 3, Canada had 11,732 probable and confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5,518 in Quebec, 3,255 in Ontario, 1,121 in British Columbia and 968 in Alberta.
