Flu and COVID-19 infections continue to fall in Manitoba

Manitoba'sinfluenza and COVID-19 activity continued to decline in 2023 with hospital admissions dropping significantly for both last week, the latest provincial surveillance data says.

A total of two people were admitted to hospital for flu symptoms,saysthemost recent respiratory virus surveillance report,which covers the week of Jan. 8-14. That's down from 12 the previous week.

There was also one flu-related death reported in that same time span, compared with four the week before.

As well, there were 18 new reportedcases, compared with52 in theJan. 17 report.

The current weekly test positivity for Influenza A, which is the prime strain detected this season, is1.9 per cent, whereas it was 2.8 per cent a week earlier.

The national rate is six per cent.

Similarly, hospital admissions due to COVIDdropped by 10. There were 38 reported the previous weekand28 in the most recent one.

Nine COVID-related deaths were reported in the latest report, compared with25 in the prior one.

Despite the improvements, the weekly test positivity rate for COVID-19 increased slightly between the two reporting periods, goingfrom 10.3 per cent to12.3.

There were 122 new cases (down from 125 in theJan. 17 report).Those numbers, though, are considered to be a significant undercount due to limited testing offered by public health. The province does not track results from home tests.

Older adults continue to be at higher risk for COVID-19 infection, associated hospital admissionsand fatalities, the report says.

Children younger thanfive have the highest risk for influenza infection compared to other age groups.

Other respiratory viruses continue to circulate as well, but the test positivity rate forand detection ofrespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have both decreased as well.

The number of detected RSV cases in the latest report is 131 (down from 164) and the test positivity rate is 8.7 per cent (down from 10.6).

Wastewater surveillance datafrom January indicates sustained activity of COVID-19 in Winnipeg and Brandon but at lower levels.