Another five Manitobans with COVID-19 have died and health officials say 158 new infections have been identified across the province.
The latest numbers come a day after Manitoba reported its lowest daily caseload since mid-October — 92 cases — and follows a trend that has seen the province’s daily list of infections slowly dropping since tight restrictions on public gatherings and store openings were put in place in November.
Dr. Jazz Atwal, Manitoba’s acting deputy chief provincial public health officer, said it’s crucial Manitobans continue to follow the public health orders.
“We are headed in a good direction … the actions taken by Manitobans is making a difference,” he said at a Wednesday press conference. “However it is too early to start a victory lap.
“If we let up now, all the hard work for the past several weeks could be for nothing — we could be back to where we started in in November.”
The latest victims announced Wednesday bring the province’s total number of deaths since March to 753 and include:
a man in his 50s from the Northern health region;
a man in his 80s from Prairie Mountain Health region and linked to the outbreak at the McCreary/Alonsa Health Centre;
a man in his 70s from the Winnipeg health region and linked to the outbreak at the Southeast Personal Care Home;
a man in his 80s from the Winnipeg health region; and
a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region and linked to the outbreak at the Charleswood Care Centre.
The new cases bring the province’s total caseload to 26,695 after health officials removed three previously announced cases due to a data correction.
Wednesday’s list of new infections come from across the province and include 61 cases in the Winnipeg Health region, eight cases in the Southern Health region, 12 cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region, 70 cases in the Northern Health region, and seven cases in the Interlake-Eastern Health region.
According to provincial data 2,928 of Manitoba’s cases remain active.
