Manitoba reported 50 new cases of COvID-19 March 15 and said that 18 more cases of the variant of concern first identified in the United Kingdom have been detected, one in the Interlake-Eastern health district and the remainder in Winnipeg.
There have now been 30 cases of the U.K. variant detected in Manitoba and 11 of the variant first identified in South Africa. Nineteen of these cases are still considered active, said chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin at his March 15 press conference. Of the 41, eight are related to travel and nine are not linked to either travel or close contact with known cases. The rest are close contacts of known cases.
Sixteen of the new cases announced on Monday were from Northern Manitoba, including five new cases in the Pukatawagan/Mathias Colomb health district, which now has 172 active cases. There were also four new cases in the Thompson/Mystery Lake health district.
151 Manitobans are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 56 with active cases. Eleven of those with active cases are in intensive care and there are 12 people who are no longer considered infectious in intensive care. Twenty-five of the people in hospital are from the north, 19 of whom are still considered infectious. Five of the northern residents with active infections are in intensive care, as are two who are no longer considered infectious.
No new deaths were announced on Monday so the total number of Manitobans who have died since the pandemic began remained at 917. The five-day test positivity rate on March 15 was 4.8 per cent.
“We are seeing test positivity creep up,” said Roussin. “It’s going to really impair our ability to vaccinate Manitobans if we start seeing high test positivity again.”
Roussin also said he believes the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe despite adverse reactions reported in other countries and said he was scheduled to receive it March 19.
