Province reports 211 new COVID cases, one death; highest daily count since January

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This article was published 19/04/2021 (1100 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are 211 new COVID-19 cases in Manitoba and another person has died after contracting the virus, the province announced Tuesday.

Test positivity rates are now six per cent provincially and 6.3 per cent in Winnipeg. The woman in her 90s whose death was reported Tuesday was linked to an outbreak at Russell Health Centre in the Prairie Mountain health region.

Of the new cases announced Tuesday, 138 are in Winnipeg, 27 in Prairie Mountain, 25 in the Northern health region, 14 are in the Interlake-Eastern health region and seven cases are in the Southern health region.

It’s the highest daily case count in Manitoba since late January.

The province implemented slightly stricter restrictions on gathering size limits and retail-store capacity that came into effect Tuesday. Now, Manitobans are allowed to have only two designated visitors inside their home and all outdoor gatherings max out at 10 people. Retail businesses must enforce a 25 per cent capacity, rather than the 50 per cent capacity that was allowed under previous public-health orders.

Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin framed the new restrictions as Manitoba’s “last shot” at bringing case numbers down before stricter lockdown measures would be necessary.

The highly contagious B.1.1.7 strain of COVID-19 is becoming dominant in Manitoba. It accounts for the majority of the 774 concerning variant cases in the province. Two Manitobans have died after contracting the B.1.1.7 variant earlier this year.

There are 132 Manitobans hospitalized with COVID-19 and 18 of them are in intensive care.

On Tuesday, the province announced outbreaks had been declared again at Stony Mountain Institution federal prison and at the Flin Flon personal-care home and the Grassroots Early Learning and Child Care Centre in Thompson.