WINNIPEG -- Another person connected with the outbreak of COVID-19 at a personal care home in Steinbach, Man. has died.
On Thursday, Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, and Health Minister Cameron Friesen, announced the latest death related to COVID-19 in Manitoba.
The person who died was a woman in her 90s from the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region and is associated with the outbreak at the Bethesda Place care home in Steinbach.
Roussin said this is the 14th death due to COVID-19 in Manitoba.
This is the second death connected to the care home. The province announced on Tuesday that another woman in her 90s had died of COVID-19.
Roussin confirmed both women had been residents at Bethesda Place. He said there are currently eight cases linked to the outbreak at the care home, including five employees and three residents.
In addition to the death, Roussin announced 22 new cases had been identified in the province as of Thursday morning, however, a previously announced case from August 15 has been removed.
This brings the total number of active cases in Manitoba to 407.
The new cases announced on Thursday include:
- three new cases in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority;
- nine new cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region;
- six new cases in Southern Health-Santé Sud; and
- four cases in the Winnipeg health region.
Roussin said seven of the new cases have been identified as close contacts of a previously announced case.
He said over the past seven days, there have been nine cases identified that are related to travel.
"The preliminary investigations indicate that a majority of today's Prairie Mountain Health regional cases are linked to intentional testing related to known clusters in communal living communities," Roussin said.
The province also said a previously announced case has been identified as a health care worker at the Rideau Park Personal Care Home in Brandon. The province has declared an outbreak at the home, and moved site to critical in the province's pandemic response system.
READ MORE: Another COVID-19 outbreak declared at Manitoba personal care home
The total number of lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba is now 1,064 since March 12. The current five-day test positivity rate is three per cent.
As of Thursday morning, there are six people in hospital, one of whom is in intensive care. A total of 643 people have recovered.
WHERE THE MOST CASES OF COVID-19 ARE IN MANITOBA
As of Thursday, the Prairie Mountain Health region had 212 active cases – the highest level of COVID-19 cases in the province. The majority of these cases are in the Brandon district, which has 126 active cases.
Not including the Brandon district, the areas in Manitoba that have the highest level of active cases include:
- Winnipeg, which has 97 active cases
- Asessippi, which has 52 active cases
- Niverville/Ritchot, which has 18 active cases
- Whitemud, and Lorne/Louise/Pembina, which both have 11 active cases
COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION IDENTIFIED IN WINNIPEG
Roussin said of the 97 active cases in Winnipeg, a lot of them are linked to previously announced cases, but said about 20 per cent of the cases have been identified as community-based transmission.
"We're going to see cases," He said. "The majority of them are people who have been self-isolating, but we do see some community transmission."
On Wednesday, an additional 1,429 laboratory tests were completed, bringing the total number of tests done since early February to 130,835.
