WINNIPEG -- New data out of the Government of Manitoba shows the decline of the COVID-19 virus in the province.

The numbers are derived from the province’s epidemiology and surveillance unit, which has been monitoring the spread of the virus; characteristics of cases and contacts; as well as transmission of COVID-19 among various populations.

The goal of the weekly report, which is provided on a one-week delay, is to understand the virus from a respiratory context, and present a detailed overview of cases and contacts.

For the week of May 10 to 16, the province reported one new case of COVID-19, though “testing volume continued at a higher level with close to 600 people tested for COVID-19 each day while the positivity rate continued to decrease,” the report said.

It noted respiratory issues in primary care and emergency rooms were also low.

According to the data, 96 per cent of people in Manitoba with the virus were symptomatic, with the highest-reported symptoms being: cough, headache, fever, chills, and muscle pain.

The numbers also show that nearly half of the cases in the province (47.2 per cent) are related to travel.

In total, 37 of Manitoba’s health-care workers, including nurses, health-care aides and physicians, contracted COVID-19. Of the cases, 35 of them have already recovered and are back at work. The province said 19 of these cases were from close contact to someone else with the virus, 11 were from travel and seven cases have an unknown source.

A number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in Manitoba had underlying medical conditions – one of the biggest risk factors for severe outcomes. The most commonly reported conditions include diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and asthma.

According to the numbers, more than 90 per cent of Manitobans with both COVID-19 and a chronic condition were hospitalized.

To date, there have been 292 cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba, with seven deaths. There have also been three outbreaks of the virus, one of which was at a personal care home.

The data is released every Monday.