Northern Manitoba active COVID-19 cases drop to 30, Manitoba falls to 297 province-wide

Active COVID-19 cases in northern Manitoba are down to 30, while the number of remaining active cases province-wide is now in the 200s.

Data released by provincial health officials shows a drastic reduction in active COVID-19 cases and an equally big upward swing in recoveries. All northern districts now have, as of August 19, active case loads in single digits. The district with the highest number of active cases, the Bay Line districts, has six as of August 19.

This means the Northern Health Region (NHR) is at its lowest case level since last October, continuing a downward slide from February, when over 1,700 people in the NHR had active cases all at the same time.

The Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage district currently has three active cases, the same number as August 16, though six new recoveries were reported since earlier this week - implying that the region has had six more COVID-19 cases than previously reported.

Province-wide, only 297 COVID-19 cases are active in Manitoba, with 112 in Winnipeg, 98 in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, 42 in Southern Health-Sante Sud and 15 in Prairie Mountain Health. A total of 69 Manitobans are still hospitalized due to COVID-19, with 16 of those people still considered active COVID-19 cases. Fourteen Manitobans are in intensive care due to the disease. 

The number of COVID-19 cases in Manitoba is now at the lowest rate it has been since Sept. 24, 2020, when 280 Manitobans had the disease. Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate has dropped to 1.9 per cent.

The far north east district of Saskatchewan isn't appearing so lucky - a total of 46 cases are considered active in the far north east 2 health zone. That zone includes Creighton and Denare Beach, where no cases have been reported in the last week. Pelican Narrows is also within the zone - as of August 18, 29 people were considered active COVID-19 cases in the community, with another eight cases found Wednesday. Over 200 people in the community are currently in isolation,