Cases rise in Pukatawagan, Pelican Narrows, Manitoba numbers continue drop, Flin Flon stays flat

The long, slow ebb of Manitoba’s second wave is continuing, with the province reporting its lowest one-day case increase since October on Monday. Not every community, particularly in the north, has been so lucky.

Only 35 new cases were found province-wide in Manitoba March 1, with 16 of those cases within the Northern Health Region (NHR). A day later, the province reported 56 new net cases and only 16 in the NHR.

The 35 new cases is the lowest number of new cases reported in one day in Manitoba since Oct. 7, when health officials also reported 35 new cases in the early days of what became the province’s second wave.

The Flin Flon/Snow Lake/Cranberry Portage/Sherridon district is now the only health district within the NHR with no active COVID-19 cases. A second district that had gotten down to zero, the Pukatawagan/Mathias Colomb district, reported a new case late last week and has since reported another six cases, bringing it up to seven active cases.

Another 134 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Saskatchewan March 2, including 11 cases in the far north east health zone. All 11 of those cases were found in the far north east 2 health zone, which contains Creighton, Denare Beach, Pelican Narrows. The district is now up to 80 active cases as of March 2.

The epicentre of the cases remains Pelican Narrows, which has seen a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. The community has been designated as an outbreak site since November by the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority (NITHA).

According to the community's Angelique Canada Health Centre, 76 people in the community had active COVID-19 cases as of March 1, along with 15 new cases of the disease. The community is back to full COVID-19 restrictions due to the increases.

In northern Manitoba, active case loads are dropping through most of the region, with recoveries generally keeping pace with the number of new cases reported. As of March 2, only the Pukatawagan district has seen an increase in active cases of COVID-19.

The largest current outbreak of COVID-19 remains in the Cross Lake/Pimicikamak Cree Nation area, where 202 people have current COVID-19 cases according to provincial data released March 2. While the number of active cases is still among the highest in the region, making up more than a third of the NHR’s entire active case load, the curve may be flattening in Cross Lake - active case loads have stabilized as new cases are offset by people who had COVID-19 being marked as recovered.

Canadian Armed Forces personnel arrived in Cross Lake last week to assist health workers and medical professionals in the area. Cross Lake and Pimicikamak is still under a near-complete lockdown as organized by the local chief and council, working with the provincial government, in an attempt to stop further COVID-19 spread.

No new outbreaks or possible public exposures due to COVID-19 were announced in northern Manitoba March 2.

Province-wide, 1,151 people are listed as active cases of COVID-19, with 582 of those people - more than half - in the NHR. A total of 187 people are in hospital due to the disease, with 25 of those people in intensive care.

A total of eight so-called “variant of concern” cases have been confirmed in Manitoba - six of the B.1.1.7 variant and two newly-announced cases of the B.1.351 variant. Three new variant cases were announced by the province Tuesday, all of which were found in Winnipeg.