Manitoba health officials give live coronavirus update Friday – Winnipeg
Manitoba health officials have scheduled a press conference to discuss COVID-19 Friday as the province continues to see hundreds of new cases and multiple deaths reported on a daily basis.
On Thursday, Manitoba reported nine deaths from COVID-19 for the second-straight day and again saw record-high levels of hospitalizations and patients needing critical care. The 474 new cases reported Thursday bring the province’s total reported since March to 9,782.
Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief public officer of health, and Manitoba’s chief nursing officer, Lanette Siragusa, will face reporters at a 12:30 p.m. press conference. Global News will stream the event live here.
As well as matching the province’s highest recorded one-day death toll Thursday, the province also saw its highest ever number of hospitalizations — 227 — and reported 34 COVID-19 patients are in the ICU, another grim record.
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Health officials said as of Thursday morning 83 of Manitoba’s 91 ICU beds were in use across the province.
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The province also reached its highest ever five-day test positivity rate Thursday — 11 per cent — and the rate rose to 11.4 per cent in Winnipeg, where 99 people have now died and 315 of the new cases reported Thursday were located.
Since March the virus has killed 132 people across Manitoba.
Coronavirus: Another 9 deaths, 474 new COVID-19 cases reported in Manitoba
The province has been struggling to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus since it started spiking in recent weeks after a summer lull. There have been more than 2,500 cases in the last week and more than 20 deaths in the past three days.
The sharp rise in cases and record number of hospitalizations have put the health-care system under strain. Intensive care beds, including those occupied by non-COVID-patients, are running close to capacity.
There have been outbreaks in long-term care homes and hospitals, and widespread community transmission.
Manitoba has the largest per-capita caseload of active infections in the country with 6,030 in its population of just under 1.4 million people.
–With files from The Canadian Press
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. In some provinces and municipalities across the country, masks or face coverings are now mandatory in indoor public spaces.
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