Manitoba reports daily case count over 100 for 2nd time in less than a week

Manitoba reported more than 100 cases in a single day for the second time in less than a week.

Provincial health officials announced a total of182 new cases of COVID-19 over the past three days 102on Saturday, 46on Sunday and 34 on Monday.

Last Wednesday, the province posted more than 100 new cases in a single day for the first time since June 26. The seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases jumped from around 49 on Friday to 59 on Monday.

No new deaths related to COVID-19 were reported on Monday.

The province's five-day test positivity rate is three per cent, and Winnipeg's is 1.6 per cent.A totalof1,607 lab tests were completed on Sunday.

Of the 34 new cases reportedon Monday, 25 people were not fully vaccinated, a news release said.

There are 16 new casesin the Winnipeg health region, nine in the Southern Health region, five in the Northern Health Region,three in the Prairie Mountain Health region and one in the Interlake-Eastern health region. There are 503 active cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba.

There are 65 Manitobans currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, with 18 of themin intensive care units.

As of Monday, 82 per cent of eligible Manitobans had receivedat least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 76.7per cent had two doses.

Preparing for school

Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, and Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead on the province's vaccine task force, held a joint online briefing Monday.

It wasthe first updatesince anindoor mask mandate came back into effect on Saturday under new health orders.Starting Friday, Manitobans will have to show proof of vaccination in order to access many businesses and services, such as gyms, restaurants and theatres.

Public health officials are gearing up restrictions in anticipation ofa fourth wave of COVID-19driven by the highly-contagious delta variantand coming as students in Manitoba prepare to go back to school.

The levels of transmission that could occur as a result of students returning to school will depend on how much the virus spreads among the wider community, Roussin said.

"This year,going back to school, we have the benefit of vaccines," he said.

Starting Oct. 30, all provincial employees, including those who work in schools, will need to be fully vaccinated or undergo regular testing up to three times per week.

"We do expect that there will be transmission of COVID" in schools, Roussin said."We see transmission of COVID right now, so we know that we'll continue to see that," he said.

Health officials have passed along guidance to the education department on ways to assess ventilation in schools, but no broad recommendations have been made, Roussin said. Any recommendations will be based on what the assessments reveal about the ventilation of individual schools.