WINNIPEG -- Four more Manitoba healthcare workers have contracted COVID-19.

According to numbers from the province’s surveillance data from Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, a total of 113 healthcare workers have tested positive for the disease since the start of the pandemic, which is an increase of four from the week before.

Of these workers, 36 are healthcare aides, 30 are nurses, nine are physicians or physicians in training, seven are social/support workers, five are medical clerks, three are pharmacists, and 23 fall into a combined category.

The data, which monitors the intensity, characteristics, transmission and geographical spread of COVID-19 in Manitoba, shows that 70 of these workers got the disease from close contact with a known case, 11 got it from travel, and for the rest the source is unknown.

Ninety of these healthcare workers have recovered.

The data shows that during the week of Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, Manitoba reported 279 new cases of COVID-19, which is down from 295 in the week prior.

However, the volume of tests increased to an average of 2,174 people per day, compared to 1,956 in the week before.

The test positivity rate also saw an increase, going from 2.2 per cent to 2.3 per cent.

Of the 279 cases, 73 per cent were from Winnipeg Regional Health, with 12 per cent in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority. Southern Health – Santé Sud Regional Health Authority reported 8 per cent of the cases, the Northern Health region reported four per cent, and the Prairie Mountain Health Region accounted for three per cent.

The province noted that in the cases this week where information on the source of the infection was available, 75 per cent of them came from close contacts to known cases.

Manitoba also saw its 15th and 16th outbreaks at long-term care homes during this week.