WINNIPEG -- A hospital in Winnipeg is launching a pilot project to see how new guidelines for in-patient visits will work as the province continues to move forward with the next phase of reopening.

On Monday, Lanette Siragusa, the chief nursing officer for Shared Health, announced health officials have developed new guidelines for in-patient visits. The guidelines have been sent for consultation, but Siragusa said she hopes to have more details by the end of the week.

"It will ease the burden that I know many of you are feeling, and I appreciate how difficult this has been," she said.

Siragusa said the Victoria General Hospital has decided to do a pilot project allowing outdoor visits for medically stable patients who can go out and visit with their families and loved ones.

She said Shared Health will look at whether it can accommodate similar visitations at other acute in-patient facilities.

She said there are currently no new cases of COVID-19 among healthcare workers or first responders, adding 429 of them were tested for the virus last week. She said since the start of the pandemic, 26 workers have tested positive for the virus.

Siragusa said all of them have since recovered and are back to work.