Manitoba Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Jazz Atwal announced 127 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 5.1 percent.  He also announced no additional deaths.

Of the new cases 75 were in the Winnipeg region and 29 in Northern health with lower numbers in other regions.  An outbreak has been declared at the Flin Flon Personal Care Home and it has been moved to the critical level.  The total number of variants of concern cases in the province is now 704 with 315 active.  Atwal says they are reviewing current restrictions and they don’t want to have to introduce public health measures but they are working on finalizing their plans and they’ll be sharing information on any new restrictions in the coming days and what they introduce will depend on the numbers they’re seeing and the epidemiology of the cases over the next short period of time.

Eligibility to be immunized has been expanded to include individuals age 57 or older and First Nations people aged 37 and older and information is expected next week on expanding to include first responders and all adults living in communities with the highest risk including people with frontline public facing roles in those communities.