112 new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba, possible variant exposures on Winnipeg Transit

Manitoba reports 112 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and no new deaths, a provincial news release says.

The province is warning the public of possible exposures to a more contagious coronavirus variant on Winnipeg Transit earlier this month.

The public may have been exposed to the B117 coronavirus variant first found in the U.K. on the following routes:

Blueline Route:

• April 2 from 3:30 p.m. at Graham Avenueand Fort Streetto 4 p.m. at the Chancellor Blueline Station.

Route 15:

• April 3 from 1:30 p.m. at Mackenzie Streetand Boyd Avenueto 1:45 p.m. at Portage Avenueand Donald Street.
• April 3 from 4:30 p.m. at Ellice Avenueand Empress Streetto 5:10 p.m. at Mackenzie Streetand Boyd Avenue.

Route 17:

• April 6from 9:10 a.m. at McGregor Streetand Boyd Avenueto 9:30 a.m. at Graham Avenueand Fort Street.

Of the new cases, most 65 are in the Winnipeg health region, the province said in a news release.

There are also 27 new cases in the Northern health Region, nine in the Prairie Mountain Health region, seven in the Interlake-Eastern health region and four in the Southern Health region.

Sunday marks the fifth day in a row where daily case numbers were in the triple digits.

There are now 136 COVID-19 patients in hospital in Manitoba, down by five since Saturday. Of those, 31 people are in intensive care,down by one.

Test positivity rises

Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate has steadily risen from 3.9 per cent at the beginning of April.

On Sunday, itincreased to 5.9 per cent, up from 5.7 per cent on Saturday. In Winnipeg, the rate jumped to 5.7 per cent, up from 5.2 the day before.

There havebeen 35,213 COVID-19 cases identified in Manitoba since the start of the pandemic, including 32,952 deemed recovered and 1,312 still considered active.

On Saturday, 2,149 COVID-19 tests were done in Manitoba, bringing the number of swabs completed in the province to 604,324 since early February 2020.

Meanwhile, a COVID-19 outbreak is consideredover in St. Anthony's General Hospital's acute care inpatient unitinThe Pas.

Sunday's update comes after the province announced 135 new cases on Saturday, along with possible exposures to a more contagious coronavirus variant at two Winnipeg stores earlier this month.

People may have been exposed to the B117 coronavirus variant, which was first discovered in the U.K.,at the Costco at 1499 Regent Ave. onApril 1, between 2 and 3 p.m., and at the No Frills grocery store at 1500 Plessis Rd.between 2:30 and 4 p.m., the release says.

On Saturday, the province reporteda total of 412 cases involving coronavirus variants of concern, up from 376 reported onFriday.

Provincial data on variants of concern is updated from Tuesday to Saturday.