10 more Manitobans dead due to COVID-19, hundreds of new cases identified

$1M for business COVID recovery The Manitoba government is giving $1 million to help industries hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic recover.

WINNIPEG — In the highest single-day spike of COVID-19 deaths the province has seen yet, Manitoba’s top doctor announced 10 more people have died as cases and hospitalizations continue to spike – further pushing the health-care system to capacity.

On Monday Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, announced the most recent deaths, which include:

These most recent deaths bring the total death toll of COVID-19 in Manitoba to 172.

COVID-19 CASES SPAN MANITOBA

“We’re seeing double digits of death rates, hundreds of cases each day – we can’t go on in this manner,” Roussin said, as he reported 392 new cases of COVID-19 identified, which span every health region across the province.

The majority of these cases were identified in the Winnipeg region, which reported 255 cases as of Monday. The province said Winnipeg now has a test positivity rate of 12. 8 per cent.

The other cases reported on Monday include:

These cases bring Manitoba’s total number of COVID-19 cases to 11,339. The province’s five-day test-positivity rate is now at 13 per cent. Roussin said in the past three days, he has reported more than 1,000 new cases of COVID-19.

“We can’t sustain this number of cases in our healthcare system. We need to bring these numbers down and we need to work on that starting now,” Roussin said. “Our hospitals are nearing capacity.”

As of Monday, the province said there are 234 people in hospital, including 42 people in intensive care.

'DON'T LOOK FOR REASONS TO GO OUT': ROUSSIN URGES MANITOBANS TO STAY HOME

The province reported 4,156 people have recovered from COVID-19 since March, with more than 7,000 cases being listed as active.

“I know many Manitobans are worried, many Manitobans are scared right now, but we do know what to do. We can act right now to keep bringing those numbers down,” Roussin said, once again urging Manitobans to stay home, socialize with only those in their households, and leave only for essential reasons.

(THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods)

“Don’t look for reasons to go out, look for reasons to stay home.”

Despite the calls for Manitobans to only socialize with people in their homes, Roussin said one Manitoban over the weekend had 85 contacts. He said public health will not be able to manage the pandemic if people continue to have this many contacts.

“85 contacts puts us all at risk,” he said. “We can’t accept that.”

He said people should keep a list of their close contacts to help with contact tracing.

ROUSSIN SAYS NURSES ARE FACING VERBAL ABUSE

Roussin said the contact tracers, who are mostly public health nurses, have been facing verbal abuse as they try to inform people of possible exposures to COVID-19.

“They are getting yelled at - sworn at,” Roussin said. “We can’t accept this behaviour. We know it is tough. If you are now notified you are a contact and have to self-isolate for 14 days – that is difficult, but it is certainly not the public health nurse's fault.”

The province said 2,391 tests were completed on Sunday, which brings the total number of tests completed since early February to 312,238.

This is a developing story. More to come.