46 more cases of coronavirus variant discovered in Manitoba

Another 46 cases of the more contagious coronavirus variant of concern first detected in the U.K. have been identified in Manitoba, public health officials say.

Of the newly identified cases of the B117 coronavirus variant announced Friday, 44 are in the Winnipeg area and two are in the Southern Health region, acting deputy chief public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal said at a news conference.

There are now 109 confirmed cases of the B117 variant in Manitobaand 14 confirmed cases of theB1351 variant, which was first identified in South Africa.

"In general we are seeing an increase in our cases throughout Manitoba.We do see, coupled with that, the number of [variants of concern] increase as well," Atwal said.

"Roughly 32 per cent of all cases in Manitoba right now are testing positive for a VOC, so we are keeping a sharp eye on it."

Manitoba is also reporting 116 more COVID-19 casesand threemore deaths from the illness caused by the coronavirus.

Most of the new cases are in the Winnipeg health region 51 and in the Northern Health region 55.

There are also five cases in the Southern Health region, three in the Prairie Mountain Health region and two in the Interlake-Eastern health region.

The sharp rise in the number of variant cases will likely lead to more cases next week, Atwal said at Friday afternoon's news conference.

"Think about all those interactions you had on a daily basis for the last two weeks. Each one of those interactions, if you write them down, posessome inherent risk," he said.

"Some are a little less risky and some are a little more, so we continue to need to be aware of that."

WATCH | More than one-third of COVID-19 cases are variants of concern

Dr. Jazz Atwal says roughly 32 per cent of current Manitoba COVID-19 cases are variants of concern

4 years ago

Duration 0:38

Dr. Jazz Atwal, acting deputy chief public health officer, said Friday Manitoba has seen a rise in overall COVID-19 cases, as predicted, and a rise in cases of more transmissible virus variants.

Craig Jenne, an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Calgary and a Canada Research Chair, says variants of concern are difficult to get under control once they've spread to different parts of the province.

"Once it starts to get more spread out, the abilityto put that genie back in the bottle disappears quickly and we know it will continue to spread," he said.

There is some good news, though.

"The four vaccinesapproved in Canada are still quite effective against these variants. Although they have slightly reduced ability to stop the spread of the variants, they're still excellent at protectingagainst severe disease, hospitalization, intensive care unit admission and perhaps most critically, loss of life to COVID," Jennesaid.

"[Variants of concern are] spreading rapidly. We need to keep them low and keep that spread limited until we get the vaccines out to as many people as possible, and then we'll have protection even against these variants."

The deaths announced Friday were a manin his 70s from the Interlake-Eastern health region, aman in his 60s from the Northern health region and a manin his 70s from the Winnipeg health region.

They bring the total number of deaths caused by COVID-19 in Manitoba to 932.

Case count rising

The total number of COVID-19 hospitalizations dipped to 142 on Friday, from146 the day before.That includes 31 patients in intensive care units,up from 30 on Thursday.

Manitoba's test positivity rate is 4.4 per cent, up from 4.3,and Winnipeg's rate dipped to 3.6per cent.

WATCH | Variants of concern may overtake COVID-19 as dominant strain

Dr. Jazz Atwal says province expects more transmissible virus variants will become dominant strain in Manitoba

4 years ago

Duration 1:05

Dr. Jazz Atwal, acting deputy chief public health officer, said Friday Manitoba health officials are aggressively managing COVID-19 cases linked to variants of concern.

The seven-day average daily case count has risen gradually since the start of the month. On March 1, the average was around 61 cases per day. Now, it's around 90, an increase of almost 50per cent over that time.

Aside from Thursday, there were two other days in the month that exceeded 100 for new daily cases. On March 12 there were 104 and on March 16 there were 110. The numbers came close on March 23 as well, with 98.

The province now has 1,169 active cases of COVID-19 and 31,709 people have recovered from the illness.

Labs completed 1,959COVID-19 tests on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the outbreak at Actionmarguerite St. Joseph personal care home in Winnipeg is now over.

WATCH | Full news conference on COVID-19 | March 26, 2021

Manitoba government daily briefing on coronavirus: March 26

4 years ago

Duration 36:10

Provincial officials give update on COVID-19 outbreak: Friday, March 26, 2021.