1 more death, 56 new cases of COVID-19 announced in Manitoba

One more person with COVID-19 has died, as Manitobaannounced 56 new cases on Tuesday, including 31 new cases in the Winnipeg health region and 22 in Interlake-Eastern.

The latest death, a woman in her 70sfrom the Whitemud district in the Prairie Mountain Health region, brings the total number of COVID-related deaths in Manitoba to 24.

One previously announced case of COVID-19 was removed, bringing the net total of new cases announced on Monday to 55, public health officials said in a news release.

There are now 671 active cases in the Winnipeg region, one day before new restrictions onbars and restaurants in the city and surrounding area come into effect. The total number of active cases in Manitoba is now 781.

There are two new cases in the Southern Health regionand one in the Prairie Mountain Health region.

The Interlake-Eastern health region includes Little Grand Rapids First Nation, which announced it had 19 confirmed cases on the weekend.

The number of Manitobans in hospital with COVID-19 continues to climb, with a record 28 people hospitalized with the virus Tuesday morning, five more than there were on Monday; seven patients are in intensive care.

The province's five-day test-positivity rate held steady at 2.4 per cent. There have been 2,246 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba since the start of the pandemic.

On Monday, the province completed1,904 COVID-19 tests.

The province also warned about possible exposures at two Winnipeg schools Andrew Mynarski VC and Dufferin School both on Sept. 28 and 29. In both cases,there is no evidence the infection was acquired at school, health officials said.

Health officials also warned of possible exposures onMahihkan Bus Lines on Oct. 1, travelling at 11 a.m. from Winnipeg northbound toPortage la Prairie, Dauphin, Swan River, Mafeking and The Pas.

Another possible exposure location isTim Hortons in Beausejour on Sept. 28 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Sept. 29 from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. The risk to the public is considered low in this case, the province said.

Last week, the province moved Manitoba's capital and several nearby communities to the orange, or restricted, level of the pandemic response system, in an effort to get a grip on steadily rising coronavirus infection numbers.

On Monday, the province released its latest weekly COVID-19 surveillance report, forSept. 20-26, which showed the highest increase in cases of any weekly report to date. The vast majority of those new cases 80 per cent were in the Winnipeg Health region.