109 COVID-19 cases identified in Manitoba over 3 days as Southern Health region sees increase

There were 109 new COVID-19 cases over the past three days, with more than half the new cases on Monday in the Southern Health region, which only has 15 per cent of Manitoba's population.

There were 46 new cases identified in Manitoba on Saturday, 36 on Sunday and 27 on Monday. There were no deaths due to COVID-19 in that time.

Among the 27 cases reported Monday, the Southern Health region has 15. There are five cases in the Northern Health Region, four in the Winnipeg health region, two in the Interlake-Eastern health region and one in the Prairie Mountain Health region.

Officials are seeing concerning trends in the Southern Health region, Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Monday during an online news conference.

"We're seeing some increasing numbers, increase in test positivity, increasing numbers of contacts per case, and in some of those circumstances where we have a large amount of contacts per case … none of the contacts are vaccinated," he told reporters.

"The fourth wave is coming. The best way to protect ourselves and those around us and all Manitobans is to get vaccinated as soon as you are eligible."

As of Monday, there are 345 active cases and 56,750 people have recovered from COVID-19. The number of deaths linked to the illness remains 1,188 in Manitoba.

Roussin and Premier Brian Pallister plan to hold a news conference Tuesday to give an update on public health recommendations and restrictions. Both hinted Monday that they might speak about masks.

Roussin also said public health officials will likely release COVID-19 modelling later this week, which will include projections regarding the more transmissible delta variant.

Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate is up to 2.3 per cent from 2.1 per cent on Friday, the last day it was reported, a provincial news release says.

In Winnipeg, the rate is holding steady at 1.4 per cent.

Manitoba no longer updates its public COVID-19 data portal on weekends and holidays.

There were 1,120 COVID-19 tests done on Sunday.

The number of people hospitalized due to the coronavirus is 63, up from 62 on Friday. The number of people in intensive care is 16, up one from a few days ago.

As of Monday, 81.4 per cent of eligible Manitobans have had their first dose of the vaccine and 75.5 per cent have had both, the online vaccine dashboard says.

Manitoba reached its final vaccine milestone for reopening on Friday, which the province aimed to hit by Sept. 6 — though it already loosened or removed most restrictions earlier this month, before achieving the goal.