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* 21 (May 17 – May 23)

Data extracted up to 4:00am on May 29, 2020
Next reporting date: June 8, 2020

Provincial Summary: Low Activity

In Week 21, a small number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases continued to be reported. The testing volume continued at a higher level with close to 600 people tested for COVID-19 each day while the positivity rate was close to zero. The respiratory activity levels in the community, primary care and emergency rooms continued to be low.

Three quarters of the cases reside in the region of Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. Case counts remain highest among people aged 19–34. People aged 65 years and older and those with underlying illnesses are at higher risk for severe outcomes as a result of COVID-19 infection.

Travel has been identified as the source of infection in half of cases. Non-travel related cases and cases with unknown source of infection started to be reported from late March. In close contacts to COVID-19 cases, household exposure is the most reported exposure type. Among household contacts, approximately 10% became cases.

Only one laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 outbreak has been reported from long-term care facilities. The number of all reported respiratory outbreaks remains low for this time of year.

Cases

About cases

  • New cases: 3
  • Total cases: 292
  • Recovered cases: 273
More Analyses

Testing

About testing

This week

  • Average daily specimens: 599
  • Weekly positivity rate: 0%

Total

  • Tested people: 37,050
  • Population tested: 2.7%
  • Positivity rate: 0.8%
More Analyses

Severity

About severity

Severe outcomes associated with COVID-19:

  • Hospitalizations: 34
  • ICU admissions**: 14
  • Deaths: 7
More Analyses

Outbreaks

About outbreaks

  • COVID-19 outbreaks: 3
  • COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities: 1
More Analyses

FluWatchers

About FluWatchers

Participants reporting: 507

Reporting fever and cough: 0.4%

Check Trend

Physician Visits

About sentinal physicians

Influenza Like Illness (ILI) Visits to sentinel physicians: 0.7%

Check Trend

ED Visits

About emergency room visits

Average daily respiratory visits to emergency department (ED): 83

Check Trend

Exposure

About exposure

Source of infection in cases (% of total)

  • Travel: 47.5%
  • Close contact to cases: 41.4%
  • Unknown: 11.2%
  • Pending: 0%

Close contacts to cases

  • Top contact type: Household exposure
  • Household contacts converting to cases: 10.0%

Risk Factors

About risk factors

  • Pregnant cases: 4
  • Health care workers***: 37
  • Recovered health care workers returned to work: 37
More Analyses

Symptoms

About symptoms

Symptomatic cases: 95.5%

Top symptoms (% of reports)

  • Cough: 70.5%
  • Headache: 47.3%
  • Fever: 43.2%
  • Muscle pain (myalgia): 41.1%
  • Chills: 41.1%
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. *Time trends in this report were analyzed by epidemiological week.
  4. **ICU admissions were also included in hospitalizations.
  5. ***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 213 72.9%
Southern Health-Santé Sud 31 10.6%
Interlake-Eastern RHA 19 6.5%
Prairie Mountain Health 26 8.9%
Northern Health Region 3 1.0%

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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 6,800 209,412 4.8% 3.2%
British Columbia 2,507 109,844 2.2% 2.3%
Manitoba 281 36,590 2.7% 0.8%
New Brunswick 121 20,309 2.6% 0.6%
Newfoundland and Labrador 260 11,096 2.1% 2.3%
Northwest Territories 5 1,906 4.2% 0.3%
Nova Scotia 1,048 38,613 4.0% 2.7%
Nunavut 0 693 1.8% 0.0%
Ontario 24,628 569,699 3.9% 4.3%
Prince Edward Island 27 5,201 3.3% 0.5%
Quebec 46,141 361,628 4.3% 12.8%
Saskatchewan 627 39,072 3.3% 1.6%
Yukon 11 1,145 2.8% 1.0%
Canada 82,469 1,405,284 3.8% 5.9%

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Severity

Figure 4. Age Distribution of Severe COVID-19 Cases Compared to All Cases, Manitoba, 2020

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Figure 5. Percentage of COVID-19 Cases With Underlying Illnesses, Manitoba, March 12 – May 20, 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, March 12 – May 13, 2020

Source of infection Cases Percentage
Close contact of known case 19 51.4%
Travel 11 29.7%
Unknown 7 18.9%
All Cases 37

Table 4. Roles of Health Care Workers, Manitoba, March 12 – May 13, 2020

Role Cases
Nurse 13
Health care aide 8
Physician or physician in training 9
Other 7

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Outbreaks

Figure 6. Weekly Respiratory and COVID-19 Outbreaks, Manitoba, 2017 – 2020

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FluWatchers

Figure 7. Weekly FluWatchers Participants and Percentage Reporting Fever and Cough, Manitoba, 2020

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Physician Visits

Figure 8. Weekly Percentage of ILI Related Visits to Sentinel Physicians, Manitoba

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ED Visits

Figure 9. Weekly Respiratory Visits to Emergency Department, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Manitoba

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Symptoms

Figure 10. 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

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