Health officials in Manitoba have identified 38 new COVID-19 patients, which marks the third largest spike the province has recorded throughout the pandemic.
On two different occasions Manitoba has recorded 40 new cases, with the most recent time being Aug. 14.
Of the 38 newly identified patients, one involves an individual linked to a personal care home in Steinbach. Health officials are still investigating how the individual at the Bethesda Place became infected.
Twenty of the most recent cases are in the Prairie Mountain Health region, 12 are in the Southern Health region, five in Winnipeg health region and one in Interlake-Eastern Health region.
The Prairie Mountain Health region has 103 of the province’s 232 active cases. Sixty-four of them are connected to a cluster in Brandon, while 56 cases are related to a business in Manitoba’s second-largest city. Previous reporting has identified the business as the Maple Leaf Food plant, according to CBC.
A cluster has also been reported over the weekend in the Niverville region, which is in Southern Health. Chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin would not go into detail about the cluster at Monday’s COVID-19 press briefing, but there are 23 active cases in the area. Roussin said there is no sign of community transmission in Niverville, but there has been some in Winnipeg and Brandon.
Throughout the pandemic, there have been 731 cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba. That includes 490 people who have recovered and nine fatalities. Of the 232 active cases, there are 11 people in hospital, including three in intensive care.
On July 14, the province came very close to having no active cases. That day, after all of its initial patients had recovered, health officials diagnosed five other people. Since then, Manitoba has seen its curb trend upwards.
