1 of 2 new COVID-19 cases visited Winnipeg Home Depot, Walmart last week

There are two new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba, public health officials announcedon Thursday, bringing the total number of cases identified in the province to 308.

The new cases a woman and a man from Winnipeg, both in their 40s are household contacts, and one case is related to international travel,Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussinsaid at a news conference.

That person was self-isolating at home after returning to Canada from Europe.

The other casewasout in public when the person wasn't showing symptoms of the illness,and was at the Home Depot on Bishop Grandin Boulevard on June 12 between 8 and 9 a.m., and Walmart on Kenaston Boulevard on June 13 between 6 and7 p.m.

The risk of transmission is "extremely low" because the person wasn't showing symptoms and the stores had physical distancing policies, Roussin said.

"[It] certainly reminds us that this virus is still present, and the importance of those physical distancing measures that were in place during these visits," he said.

WATCH | Dr. Roussin on the COVID-19 patient who visited Home Depot, Walmart last week:

New COVID-19 case visited Home Depot, Walmart

4 years ago

Duration 1:32

Dr. Brent Roussin says the risk to other shoppers is low because both Winnipeg stores have physical distancing policies in place.

Anyone who was at either location and has symptoms of COVID-19 should be tested for the illness and stay home, Roussin said.

People self-isolating after travel should avoid contact with everyone even people they live with, he said.

"You shouldn't really have close contact with those at home, and if you do, then those people should essentially be self-isolating," he said.

"We don't necessarily know what occurred [with the two new cases], but ideally, if you're self-isolating at home, you should really not have any close contact with anyone else."

Wednesday cases likelycommunity spread

Roussin also said the twocases in Manitoba that wereannounced on Wednesday are also household contacts of each other. Both cases are males, one in his 30s and another between the ages of 10 and 19. Both are from the Winnipeg health region.

Those cases are likely linked to community spread, since public health officials haven't found a link to travel or exposure to a known case of COVID-19, he said.

Roussin said health officials also didn't find any significant possible community exposures from those cases.

Manitoba hasn't linked any other COVID-19 casesto community transmission since at least May 18, according to the province'sPhase 3 reopening plan.

There are currently eight active cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba.

WATCH | Full news conference on COVID-19 | June 18, 2020:

Manitoba government daily briefing on coronavirus: June 18

4 years ago

Duration 33:37

Provincial officials give update on COVID-19 outbreak: Monday, June 18, 2020.

As of Thursday, there is no one in hospital with COVID-19 in the province. Seven people in Manitoba have died from the illness caused by the new coronavirus, and 293 have recovered.

There were 828 tests for COVID-19 done in Manitoba on Wednesday, bringing the total number of tests completed in the province to 55,743, Roussin said.

As Manitoba prepares to enter Phase 3 of its reopening plan on Sunday, the province is working on making sure the new rules are clear, Roussin said.

That includes giving restaurant owners more details about what constitutes an acceptable barrier to separate tables, which will happen soon, he said.

Manitoba is still considering lifting its mandatory 14-day isolation period for people coming from parts of Canada that are consideredlow-risk, but are not yet included in the list of places that will become exempt from the rule, Roussin said.

"We've done things in an incremental way, and Phase 3 is no different," he said. "We'll be reducing these restrictions as appropriate."

Manitoba is still not planning to reopen theatres or remove restrictions on gathering sizes for religious services any time soon, because both involve the kind of close, prolonged contact that hasbeen shown to help spread COVID-19, Roussin said.

He also said the province has no plans to expand testing to all asymptomatic people because the benefit of testing those people for COVID-19 is low.

Manitoba has randomly tested more than 4,700 asymptomatic people for COVID-19, and none have come back positive, Roussin said.