109 COVID-19 cases identified in Manitoba over 3 days as Southern Health region sees increase

There were 109 new COVID-19 cases over the past three days, withmore than half the new cases on Mondayin the Southern Health region, which only has 15 per cent of Manitoba's population.

There were 46 new cases identified in Manitobaon Saturday, 36 on Sunday and 27 on Monday. There were no deaths due to COVID-19 in that time.

Among the 27 cases reported Monday, the Southern Health region has 15. There are five cases in the Northern Health Region, four in the Winnipeg health region, two in the Interlake-Eastern health region and one in the Prairie Mountain Health region.

Officials are seeing concerning trends in the Southern Health region,Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Monday duringan online news conference.

"We're seeing some increasing numbers, increase in test positivity, increasing numbers of contacts per case, and in some of those circumstances where we have a large amount of contacts per case none of the contacts are vaccinated," he told reporters.

"The fourth wave is coming. The best way to protect ourselves and those around us and all Manitobans is to get vaccinated as soon as you are eligible."

As of Monday, there are 345 active cases and56,750people have recovered from COVID-19.The number of deaths linked to the illness remains 1,188in Manitoba.

Roussinand Premier Brian Pallisterplan to hold a news conference Tuesdayto give an update on public health recommendations and restrictions. Both hinted Monday that theymight speak about masks.

Roussin also said public health officials will likely release COVID-19 modelling later this week, which will include projections regarding the more transmissible delta variant.

Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate is up to 2.3 per cent from 2.1 per cent on Friday, the last day it was reported, a provincial news release says.

In Winnipeg, the rate is holding steady at 1.4 per cent.

Manitoba no longer updates its public COVID-19 data portal on weekends and holidays.

There were1,120 COVID-19 tests done on Sunday.

The number of people hospitalized due to the coronavirus is 63, up from 62on Friday.The number of people in intensive care is 16, up one from a few days ago.

As of Monday, 81.4per cent of eligible Manitobans have had their first dose of the vaccine and 75.5per cent have had both,the online vaccine dashboard says.

Manitoba reached itsfinal vaccine milestone for reopening on Friday, which the province aimed to hit by Sept. 6 though it alreadyloosened or removed most restrictionsearlier this month, before achieving the goal.