104 new COVID-19 cases in Manitoba as church, restaurant patio rules eased
1st time in more than 3 weeks daily case count has cracked 100
Manitoba's daily COVID-19 case count crept back into the triple digits for the first time in more than three weeks on Friday, the one-year anniversary of the first cases of the coronavirus in the province.
The jump in cases comes as provincial health officials announce a slight loosening of restrictions to allow small groups of people from different households to sit together on restaurant patios, and the removal of masks while seated and distanced from other households at churches.
Health officials also announced a "significant" outbreak connected to a church in rural Manitoba.
Another person has died and Manitoba has 104 new cases of COVID-19, health officials announced. The last time daily case numbers rose above 100 was on Feb. 18, when 139 cases were announced.
"Our case numbers are very slowly creeping up, if you noticed over the last week or so, as has the test positivity," Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba's chief public health officer, said at a news conference.
Manitoba's five-day test-positivity rate rose to 4.1 per cent on Friday, up from 3.7 per cent on Thursday. In Winnipeg, the rate is three per cent, up from 2.7 per cent.
The rising numbers shouldn't come as a surprise, Roussin said.
"As we loosen restrictions, we have more interactions and thus increasing case numbers. At the same time, we're rolling out the vaccine, we're protecting more and more of those most vulnerable in Manitoba," he said.
"So as we see increasing case numbers, we want to see a declining proportion of those that are severe outcomes."
The most recent death was a woman in her 80s linked to the outbreak at the Convalescent Home of Winnipeg. This brings the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Manitoba to 912.
Health officials also announced another confirmed case of the B117 coronavirus variant first found in the United Kingdom. The case was in the Winnipeg region and is related to travel.
On Thursday, the province announced people in Winnipeg might have been exposed to the highly contagious coronavirus variant last weekend.
The possible exposures to two probable cases of the B117 variant happened March 5 and 6 at two restaurants and a hair salon.
There have now been 23 cases of more contagious variants confirmed in Manitoba — 12 cases of the B117 variant and 11 cases of the B1351 variant first found in South Africa.
Friday is the one-year anniversary of the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Manitoba. The first was announced March 12, 2020, and the public was notified of two more cases later the same day.
New church, patio rules
Changes to the current public health orders announced Friday will allow groups of up to six people from different households to sit together on outdoor patios at restaurants and licensed establishments.
The 50 per cent maximum capacity rule remains in place, even outside.
With the recent stretch of warm weather, Roussin said it seemed like the right time to loosen the restrictions on outdoor seating.
"I think this is a good opportunity for Manitobans, where they're still quite limited. This might be something that adds a little bit of extra hope, but doesn't add a lot of risk, just because we're in an outdoor environment," he said.
People in churches will also be allowed to remove their masks if they are sitting with members of their own household, safely distanced from other groups and not singing.
The new orders go into effect one minute after midnight on Saturday.
An outbreak was declared at St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Sarto, Man., about 61 kilometres south of Winnipeg. Anyone who attended any events at or connected to the church on Feb. 21 should get tested if they have any COVID-19 symptoms, health officials said.
Roussin described the outbreak as "significant," with 10 confirmed cases and many more contacts. Two people have been hospitalized.
The outbreak in Sarto is also connected to an exposure at St. Andrew's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Winnipeg on March 4. Roussin said there were at least 40 close contacts associated with a funeral that took place there.
The outbreak at Red River Place Personal Care Home in Selkirk has been declared over.
The Northern Health Region has the most new cases, with 51. The rest are in the Winnipeg (37), Interlake-Eastern (six), Prairie Mountain (five), and Southern (five) health regions.
The number of people in hospital due to COVID-19 fell slightly to 154 on Friday, down from 156, while the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units remained at 22.
Labs completed 2,195 COVID-19 tests on Thursday, bringing the total number of completed tests to 546,239.
The province also announced recently that a swath of temporary immunization clinics are opening in some rural and northern communities across the province starting Tuesday.
WATCH | Full news conference on COVID-19 | March 12, 2021:
