Manitoba adds 10 new deaths, 350 new COVID-19 cases

Dr. Jazz Atwal, the acting deputy chief provincial public health officer for Manitoba, answers a question at a COVID-19 briefing on Dec. 16, 2020. (CTV News Photo Glenn Pismenny)

WINNIPEG — Health officials announced 10 new deaths related to COVID-19 in Manitoba on Friday.

This brings the death toll to 547.

Of the new deaths, five are from the Southern Health Region, including a man in his 40s, a man in his 50s connected to the Morris General Hospital outbreak, a woman in her 70s, a man in his 80s linked to the outbreak at the Salem Home, and a man in his 90s.

Three deaths are from the Winnipeg area, a woman in her 60s and two women in their 90s, one linked to the Convalescent Home of Winnipeg and the other connected to the Charleswood Care Centre.

One death happened in the Prairie Mountain Health Region and was a man in his 80s linked to the Gilbert Plains personal care home. The last death was a woman in her 80s from the Interlake-Eastern Health Region who was part of the outbreak at Kin Place.

Manitoba also added 350 new cases, pushing the total since March to 22,397.

The test positivity rate is 13.6 per cent in Manitoba and 13.1 per cent in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg had the highest number of new cases with 133, while 89 came from the Northern Health Region, 57 from the Southern Health Region, 40 in the Interlake-Eastern Health Region and 31 from the Prairie Mountain Health Region.

There are 5,602 active cases and 16,248 people have recovered.

Manitoba has 305 people in hospital, with 43 in intensive care.

On Thursday, 2,167 tests were performed bringing the total to 398,970 since early February.

With Christmas just a week away, Dr. Jazz Atwal, the acting deputy chief provincial public health officer, is once again reminding Manitobans that now is not the time to gather.

"We have all had traditions that we want to continue, but this year is different and it needs to be different. This year we need to make sacrifices and it will be hard," said Atwal.

He is also discouraging people from travelling outside and inside Manitoba.

"The next two weeks are critical, but we know what we need to do to stop the spread of this virus."

Atwal noted that if people don't follow the current health orders in place, they could receive a fine.

"Enforcement is possible. There is a tremendous amount of enforcement officers out there right across the province," he said, adding that people could have a knock on the door if they have people over.

Atwal said right now people should be focusing on next year and looking forward to when everyone will once again be able to gather in 2021.