Provincial COVID-19 Surveillance


To guide the Public Health response to COVID-19, Epidemiology and Surveillance has been monitoring the intensity and geographic spread, characteristics of both cases and contacts, and transmission in various populations. Surveillance data collected includes syndromic, laboratory and public health investigation data about cases and contacts to detect activity in both community and in health care settings.

In this weekly COVID-19 surveillance report, we provide regular updates about the current activity of COVID-19 in Manitoba with two overall objectives:

Data are reported with a one-week delay for increased data accuracy, completeness and reliability. More analyses continue to be conducted and will be added to this report as available. It is published online at approximately 10:00am every Monday.

Week 33 (August 9 – August 15)

About epidemiological week

Data extracted up to 4:00am on August 21, 2020
Next reporting date: August 31, 2020

Provincial Summary: Increasing Activity

In Week 33, there were 153 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in Manitoba, an increase from 107 in the previous week. The volume of lab tests increased to on average over 1,600 people tested for COVID-19 per day compared to approximately 1,500 in the previous week. The positivity rate of lab tests was 1.6%, an increase from 1.1% in the previous week. The respiratory activity levels in the community, primary care and emergency rooms continued to be low.

In an examination of the 153 cases reported this week, approximately half were reported from Prairie Mountain Health and 30% were reported from the Southern Health - Santé Sud Regional Health Authority. The rest were reported from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. Note that approximately 60% of the cases this week were close contacts to known cases and 10% were considered travel related.

Overall, older adults and those with underlying illnesses are at higher risk for severe outcomes as a result of COVID-19 infection.

The number of reported respiratory outbreaks remains low for this time of year.

Cases

About cases

  • New cases: 153
  • Total cases: 696
  • Recovered cases: 530
More Analyses

Testing

About testing

This week

  • Average daily specimens: 1,660
  • Weekly positivity rate: 1.6%

Total

  • Tested people: 104,039
  • Population tested: 7.6%
  • Positivity rate: 0.7%
More Analyses

Severity

About severity

Severe outcomes associated with COVID-19:

  • Hospitalizations: 47
    • ICU admissions: 20
  • Deaths: 11
More Analyses

Outbreaks

About outbreaks

  • COVID-19 outbreaks: 7
    • COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities: 1
More Analyses

FluWatchers

About FluWatchers

Participants reporting: 411

Reporting fever and cough: 0%

Check Trend

Physician Visits

About sentinal physicians

Influenza Like Illness (ILI) Visits to sentinel physicians: 0.9%

Check Trend

ED Visits

About emergency room visits

Average daily respiratory visits to emergency department (ED): 105

Check Trend

Exposure

About exposure

Source of infection in cases (% of total)

  • Travel: 28.2%
  • Close contact to cases: 46.3%
  • Unknown: 17.4%
  • Pending: 8.2%

Close contacts to cases

  • Top contact type: Household exposure
  • Household contacts converting to cases: 11.2%

Risk Factors

About risk factors

  • Pregnant cases: 8
  • Health care workers**: 49
  • Recovered health care workers returned to work: 40
More Analyses

Symptoms

About symptoms

Symptomatic cases: 87.1%

Top symptoms (% of reports)

  • Cough: 59.6%
  • Headache: 42.5%
  • Fever: 39.8%
  • Muscle pain (myalgia): 36.3%
  • Sore Throat: 32.5%
More Analyses

Important Notes

  1. Data about COVID-19 cases and contacts are extracted from PHIMS.
  2. Numbers are subject to change. Missed events in the current report due to reporting delays will be included in later reports when data become available.
  3. *ICU admissions were also included in hospitalizations.
  4. **Health care workers include personnels in hospitals, long-term care settings, community health clinics and services (including agency staff), and diagnostic/laboratory services.

Cases

Figure 1. Cases of COVID-19 by Week of Public Health Report Date, Manitoba, 2020

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Figure 2. Cases of COVID-19 by Sex and Age Group, Manitoba, 2020

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Table 1. Cases of COVID-19 by Health Region, Manitoba, 2020

Health Region Cases Percentage
Winnipeg RHA 305 43.8%
Southern Health-Santé Sud 141 20.3%
Interlake-Eastern RHA 64 9.2%
Prairie Mountain Health 183 26.3%
Northern Health Region 3 0.4%

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Testing

Figure 3. Average Daily Testing Volume and Positivity (%) for COVID-19 by Week of Specimen Receiving Date, Manitoba, 2020

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Table 2. Cumulative National Testing Volume and Positivity (%) for COVID-19 by Province/Territory, Canada, 2020

Province Confirmed Cases Tests Completed Tested Population (Estimated %) Positivity Rate (Estimated %)
Alberta 12,053 652,819 15.0% 1.8%
British Columbia 4,358 254,330 5.0% 1.7%
Manitoba 643 107,925 7.9% 0.6%
New Brunswick 180 49,295 6.4% 0.4%
Newfoundland and Labrador 268 28,094 5.4% 1.0%
Northwest Territories 5 3,126 7.0% 0.2%
Nova Scotia 1,072 68,845 7.1% 1.6%
Nunavut 0 1,562 4.0% 0.0%
Ontario 40,459 2,445,734 16.9% 1.7%
Prince Edward Island 41 22,941 14.7% 0.2%
Quebec 61,004 947,026 11.2% 6.4%
Saskatchewan 1,541 101,734 8.7% 1.5%
Yukon 15 2,156 5.3% 0.7%
Canada 121,652 4,685,663 12.5% 2.6%
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Note. National testing data are collected daily from the national Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Outbreak update webpage.

Severity

Figure 4. Severe Outcomes of COVID-19 by Week of Public Health Report Date, Manitoba, 2020

Note. ICU admissions are not included in the hospital admissions.

Figure 5. Age Distribution of Severe COVID-19 Cases Compared to All Cases, Manitoba, 2020

Figure 6. Percentage of COVID-19 Cases With Underlying Illnesses, Manitoba, March 12 - August 7, 2020

Note. Musculoskeletal illnesses include osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout and crystal arthropathies; Immunosuppressed illnesses include organ transplants, immune deficiency; COPD-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CVD-cardiovascular disease; Other chronic conditions include cancer, chronic liver disease, obesity, chronic kidney disease. About definitions of chronic conditions

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Risk Factors

Table 3. Source of Infection in Health Care Workers, Manitoba, August 9 – August 15, 2020

Source of infection Cases Percentage
Close contact of known case 28 57.1%
Travel 11 22.4%
Unknown 10 20.4%
All Cases 49

Table 4. Roles of Health Care Workers, Manitoba, August 9 – August 15, 2020

Role Cases
Nurse 14
Health care aide 13
Physician or physician in training 9
Other 13

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Outbreaks

Figure 7. Weekly Respiratory and COVID-19 Outbreaks, Manitoba, 2017 – 2020

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FluWatchers

Figure 8. Weekly FluWatchers Participants and Percentage Reporting Fever and Cough, Manitoba, 2020

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Physician Visits

Figure 9. Weekly Percentage of ILI Related Visits to Sentinel Physicians, Manitoba

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ED Visits

Figure 10. Weekly Respiratory Visits to Emergency Department, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Manitoba

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Symptoms

Figure 11. Percentage of Symptoms Reported by COVID-19 Cases, Manitoba, 2020

Note: Other symptoms include those less common symptoms such as sweating, runny eyes, itchy throat, etc.

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Epidemiology and Surveillance

epiCOVID@gov.mb.ca

Other Epidemiology and Surveillance reports

https://www.gov.mb.ca/health/publichealth/surveillance/index.html