Manitoba Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin reported this afternoon 282 new cases of COVID-19 with a five day test positivity rate of 13.1 percent.  He also reported 16 additional deaths including ten in the Winnipeg region, four in Southern health and two in Prairie Mountain health region.  He pointed out they’ve said it and it’s certainly true and continues to be true and always will be true that restrictions are tough, pandemics are tough and they’re asking a lot of people to avoid things that they feel are very important to them, things that are very difficult even in the short term as the situation we are in is critical, our hospitals are reaching capacity, our health care workers are overwhelmed so they are asking Manitobans to step up in the short term.

Of the total new cases 178 are in the Winnipeg region and 54 in Southern health with lower numbers in other regions including 22 in Northern health. The total number of confirmed cases is 17,107 with 9,066 considered active and 7713 have recovered with 338 on hospital.