Manitoba announced 118 cases of COVID-19 and four more deaths on Monday, the 11th consecutive day the province has recorded single-digit deaths.
The latest deaths are connected to current outbreaks, including a man in his 80s at the Rod McGillivary Memorial Care Home in Opaskwayak Cree Nation in the Northern Health Region.
The other three deaths are in the Winnipeg health region — a man in his 60s linked to the outbreak at the Southeast Personal Care Home, a woman in her 70s linked to the outbreak at Concordia Place and a woman in her 80s linked to the outbreak at Health Sciences Centre WRS3.
Of the 118 cases, 46 are in the northern region, which has been the location of many of the new cases in the past week.
The Winnipeg Health Region is nearly equal with 45.
There are 11 cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region, nine in the Southern Health region and seven in the Prairie Mountain Health region.
The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 10.6 per cent provincially and 7.3 per cent in Winnipeg.
(CBC)
“The actions and hard work by Manitobans continues to make a difference. We see our numbers having some way of fluctuating over the days, but we see they’re headed in a good direction,” said Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin.
“Today’s numbers continue to be encouraging [but] we’re definitely not out of the woods. We certainly still have a long way to go before we can return to normal.”
WATCH | Manitoba ‘many months away’ from return to normal: Dr. Roussin
Manitoba Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin says a variety of containment factors are helping health officials get a better grip on COVID-19 in the province, but don’t expect a return to “anything resembling being normal” for many months. 1:12
New outbreaks have been declared at Golden Door Geriatric Centre and Golden West Centennial Lodge in Winnipeg. Both sites have been moved to the critical (red) level on the province’s pandemic response system.
Meanwhile, outbreaks are now declared over at Heritage Lodge personal care home and Calvary Place Personal Care Home, both in Winnipeg.
Loosening restrictions
There are 3,108 active cases in the province (officials have said that number is inflated due to a data entry backlog) and 289 people are in hospital with COVID-19 — a drop of three from Sunday.
The number in intensive care has dropped to 35 on Monday from 39 on Sunday.
The total number of deaths in Manitoba due to COVID-19 is now 773.
Roussin was asked if the decrease in hospitalizations was enough to begin easing the current code red public health orders.
While the numbers are trending in the right direction, there are still many reasons to remain cautious, he said.
“There is still that demand on our health-care system. It is just now getting back to some of those elective procedures [which had been suspended],” Roussin said.
“So we do have to be cautious, but we do think that we’re in a position to start with some loosening of the restrictions.
“We’ll have some more details on that as the week goes on.”
The existing orders expire Friday night.
Last week, the province launched an online survey to gauge public perspective on the risk of contracting COVID-19 and how comfortable people are with easing some restrictions.
Roussin couldn’t say on Monday how many people have filled it out but “from initial reports, Manitobans were highly engaged.”
He expects more details to be released tomorrow or soon after and said he would give businesses notice as early as possible of any changes that affect them.
Roussin was asked if the new orders might include an increase in faith gatherings but said he didn’t want to speculate on the specifics.
Regardless of what changes are made “we are many months away from a place where we can start thinking about getting back to anything resembling being normal,” he said.
Don’t relax yet: Lamont
Manitoba Liberal Party leader Dougald Lamont said he was a little worried with the tone coming from Monday’s announcement, which suggested things are vastly improving.
It’s not so if you look a little closer, he said.
For instance, the outbreak in the north — specifically Lynn Lake — is concerning because “the hospital is on the verge of being overwhelmed,” he said.
And that is also bad news for Winnipeg because the majority of intensive care units in the province are located in the capital city.
“So we shouldn’t relax or let down our guard at all … because all of those people, ultimately, have to be treated here,” Lamont said, and that could still put strain on the health-care system.
He also expressed “extreme” concern about the low number of daily COVID-19 tests being conducted — just 1,322 on Sunday.
“We really don’t understand it. Months and months ago we were promised 3,000 tests a day and that is not happening,” he said.
Roussin mentioned Monday that Manitoba has not yet detected any cases of either the South African or U.K. coronavirus variants, “but we’re watching quite closely.”
Lamont said that wait-and-see approach has been a problematic one, which left Manitoba scrambling when the second wave hit in the fall.
He wants to see the province step up and start preparing for the variants rather than reacting only once they arrive.
“We need to be vigilant,” he said. “We need to be testing people for the COVID variant at airports and even at truck stops, if possible.
“Over and over again this has been the gang that can’t shoot straight when it comes to planning,” Lamont added, noting the Tories have still not released a vaccination rollout plan to the public.
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
