COVID-19 recoveries break 200 in Manitoba

WINNIPEG — The number of people who have recovered from COVID-19 in Manitoba has reached more than 200, provincial health officials announced on Monday.

Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, said there has been one new case of the virus in Manitoba, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 272.

As of Monday, 205 people have recovered. There are 61 active cases.

There are currently seven people in hospital due to the virus, including two people who are in intensive care. Cadham Provincial Laboratory performed 377 tests on Sunday, bringing the total number of tests completed in Manitoba to 23,543.

It is expected that the Manitoba government will release its plan to restart the provincial economy this week, although Premier Brian Pallister has not provided a date for the announcement.

"We're looking at likely this week we're going to be starting to discuss our re-open plan," Roussin said.

Roussin said they are looking at certain non-essential businesses that will be able to re-open. He said it will not be a return to normal when the re-open plan is released, as there will still be restrictions in place.

CHILDREN NOT BIG SPREADERS OF COVID-19: ROUSSIN

While there has been no mention of re-opening schools in Manitoba before the end of June, Roussin said there has been some push to return kids to school

"We know that unlike influenza, unlike many other respiratory illnesses, young children seem not to be big spreaders of COVID-19," he said. "So when we look at that epidemiology, the more we learn about this virus – younger children are not playing as big a role as they do in other kinds of respiratory illnesses."

Roussin said there is still a risk in terms of the volume of students.