WINNIPEG -- Health officials in Manitoba announced 383 new cases and 10 new deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the province's death toll to 266.

One of the deaths came from the Interlake-Eastern Health Region and was a woman in her 70s.

Three of the deaths are from the Southern Health Region and include a man in his 50s linked to the Bethesda Regional Health Centre, a woman in her 80s connected to the Menno Home in Grunthal, and a man in his 90s also linked to the same outbreak.

The other six deaths are all from the Winnipeg Health Region: a man in his 70s, a man in his 80s connected to the Maples care home outbreak, a woman in her 90's who is also linked to the Maples care home, and three men in their 90s, one of which is connected to the Brightwater Senior Living in Tuxedo.

Dr. Brent Roussin, the province's chief provincial public health officer, said November has been a deadly month in Manitoba.

"There have been 185 (deaths) due to COVID-19 in the month of November alone. Seventy per cent of our total COVID-related deaths have occurred in the month of November," said Roussin.

He compared the numbers to October, where there were only 60 deaths in the entire month.

"We continue to reiterate these deaths are much more than numbers. These are loved ones that are sorely missed right now. We know we can't continue with these numbers. We can’t continue with these daily case counts, we can't continue to list off this many Manitobans lost daily."

Officials also announced 383 new cases, bringing the total to 15,288 since the start of the pandemic.

Two cases were removed from the total due to a data correction and one case being from out of province.

The test positivity rate is 14.8 per cent for both the province and Winnipeg.

Of the new cases, Winnipeg continues to have the most with 202 new cases, the Southern Health Region added 111 cases, the Interlake-Eastern Health Region added 26, the Northern Health Region added another 29 cases, and 15 more cases were announced in Prairie Mountain Health Region.

There are currently 8,845 active cases and 6,177 people have recovered. Officials said 307 people are in hospital and 46 of those are in intensive care.

Roussin noted due to a continued backlog right now, he believes the active case count is much lower saying it is roughly 3,251 cases.

On Wednesday, 1,509 tests were completed, bringing the total to 341,973 since early February.

TRAVELLING IN CANADA

Roussin was once again asked if there is a chance travel restrictions could come into effect for interprovincial travel.

He said nothing is off the table, but noted Manitoba's cases right now aren't linked to travel.

"Travel is not making up a significant proportion of our cases. In the second wave, our cases have been community-based transmission in various settings."

Despite the low number of cases linked to travel, Roussin is still encouraging people to not travel for the holidays, unless it is essential.

"The message is clear, really non-essential travel should not be taking place right now and that includes travel for the holidays."

Roussin said the holiday season will not be normal and he is advising people to not travel, even within Manitoba. He said Manitobans will have to celebrate differently compared to previous years.