Manitoba health officials announced 124 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, as concerning trends continue to develop.
The latest spike is the most the province has announced in a day. However, some of them are due to a backlog. Twenty-six were identified in the latest 24-hour stretch, while 83 were identified on Sunday, and 15 on Saturday.
Regardless, if we were to add the 83 cases would have been part of Monday’s update, it would lead to a record-high 160 cases.
Of the most recent groups of 124 patients, 95 of them were identified in the Winnipeg health region, which continues to be the province’s epicentre. Of its now record-high 1,248 active cases throughout the province, at least 1,100 of them are in the Winnipeg area.
Two weeks ago, the province imposed further restrictions in the city and surrounding communities, such as mask use in indoor public places and a 10-person limit for gatherings. Last week, licensed restaurants, bars, pubs in the region were forced to start closing earlier, while alcohol sales have been prohibited after 10 p.m.
Despite the additional restrictions, health officials are still seeing concerning trends — ones that they’ve mentioned even in September.
“We see right now, especially in Winnipeg, very complex investigations — people with multiple venues that they’ve attended, sometimes multiple venues they attended while symptomatic,” said Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief public health officer.
“We just cannot succeed in this pandemic if people are out and about when they’re symptomatic.”
In addition on Thursday, the province reported that a male in his 70s from the Southern Health region has passed away, which increases Manitoba’s death toll to 35. Of the province’s record-high 1,248 active cases, there are 28 people in hospital and five in intensive care.
