Manitoba child dies of COVID-19

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This article was published 27/11/2020 (1244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

COVID-19 has claimed the life a boy under the age of 10 from Winnipeg, making him the youngest Manitoban – and possibly the youngest in the country – to die of the coronavirus.

As well, provincial public health officials announced on Saturday a total of 10 deaths due to COVID-19.

Provincial public health officials are not releasing details about the child, including his age, how long he has been fighting COVID-19, or when he died.

In a statement on Saturday, Premier Brian Pallister said “on behalf of all Manitobans my sincere condolences to the family on the loss of their child to COVID-19.

“And, to all Manitobans who have lost a loved one or is battling this virus, my thoughts and prayers go out to you at this difficult time.”

Pallister then implored Manitobans to follow public health restrictions in order to get the novel coronavirus case numbers under control.

“We all have a role to play in protecting ourselves, our loved ones, and our community,” he said. “It is crucial that Manitobans adhere to the public health measures in place, stay home as much as possible and limit your close contacts in order (to) halt the spread of this deadly virus.”

A provincial spokesman for the province’s public health called the death “a tragic case and the province extends our condolences.

“The child did have underlying medical conditions, but at this time we ask that the family be allowed to grieve in private.”

Before this, the province’s youngest victim was 38-year-old Jenn Garson Sinclair. Last week, the province announced a man in his twenties had died of COVID-19, but later admitted it was a mistake and the man was still alive.

Across the country, federal public health officials said on Friday the youngest deaths are two Canadians under the age of 19.

Meanwhile, there were 487 new cases of the virus in Manitoba – the third highest number of cases during the entire pandemic after the 546 announced on Nov. 23 and 494 on Nov. 15 – and the test positivity rate is 14.2 per cent provincially and 13.9 per cent in Winnipeg.

There are currently 327 people in hospital, the highest number of the pandemic, with 44 of them in intensive care.

There have been 290 deaths in total during the pandemic.

Besides the child, the latest deaths include:

• a female in her sixties from the Winnipeg health region;

• a male in his sixties from the Interlake–Eastern health region;

• a male in his seventies from the Prairie Mountain health region and linked to the outbreak at Gilbert Plains Personal Care Home;

• a female in her eighties from the Winnipeg health region and linked to the outbreak at Heritage Lodge;

• a female in her eighties from the Winnipeg health region;

• a female in her eighties from the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region;

• a male in his eighties from the Prairie Mountain health region and linked to the outbreak at Fairview Home;

• a female in her nineties from the Prairie Mountain health region and linked to the outbreak at Gilbert Plains Personal Care Home; and

• a male in his nineties from the Winnipeg health region and linked to the outbreak at Park Manor Care.

The number of cases on Saturday are 307 in the Winnipeg health region, 104 in the Southern Health region, 38 in the Northern health region, 23 in the Interlake-Eastern health region, and 15 in the Prairie Mountain health region.

There are currently 9,024 active cases of the novel coronavirus and 6,804 people have recovered.

Meanwhile, there have been two more outbreaks of COVID-19 declared in Manitoba.

The Manitoba Developmental Centre in Portage la Prairie, an institution which houses adults living with special needs, and the GD4 unit at the Health Sciences Centre have been moved to certificate red on the province’s pandemic response system.

Provincial public health officials also announced on Saturday that outbreaks were over at Aborgate School in La Broquerie and Reston School in Reston.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca