Northern Manitoba active COVID-19 cases drop below 200, south sees continuing high case trend

Once again, Manitoba and northern Manitoba are on different paths on COVID-19. While the province reported almost 500 new cases Friday, only 10 of those were in the north - and the Northern Health Region now has fewer than 200 active cases.

A total of 489 net new cases were reported in Manitoba May 14, but almost all of those cases were located in either Winnipeg or in southern health regions. A grand total of 10 new cases were found in the NHR, which when paired with recoveries, showed a net decrease in overall active cases.

The NHR now has 190 active cases of COVID-19, by far the lowest of any of Manitoba's five health regions - the second-lowest health region, the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, now has 265 active cases as of May 14. The NHR's 190 active cases is the lowest number of active cases seen in northern Manitoba since November 2020, when the NHR cleared 200 active cases in the midst of the second wave of COVID-19.

Out of those northern cases, only four districts within the NHR have double-digit numbers of COVID-19 cases. One of those is the Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon district, which has 10 active COVID-19 cases, including two new cases reported Friday. The other districts that have reported high numbers of active COVID-19 cases include the Island Lake district (88 cases active), the Bunibonibee/Oxford House/Manto Sipi/Gods River/Gods Lake district (27 cases active) and the Cross Lake/Pimicikamak district (25 active cases). Combined, these four districts currently have more than three-quarters of all the NHR's active COVID-19 cases.

The NHR has not yet shown case counts indicative of a third wave - while all four other Manitoba health regions have seen noticeable spikes in COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, the curve for the NHR is beginning to flatten.

Throughout Manitoba, a total of 4,163 people have active cases of COVID-19 and 239 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, including 67 people in intensive care. Out of those hospitalizations, 15 people from the NHR are hospitalized due to COVID-19, including one northern resident now in intensive care with an active COVID-19 case.