COVID-19: More than 5% of Manitoba's population tested positive throughout pandemic

As Manitoba reaches more than 70,000 total COVID-19 cases, they also reach another milestone: one out of every 20 people in the province has contracted COVID-19.

Out of Manitoba's estimated 1,380,648 person population, 5.08 per cent of people have contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There have been 70,140 confirmed cases since March 12's first case.

The Province of Manitoba says COVID-19 reinfections are extremely rare in the prairie province. There have been less than one dozen instances of Manitobans being reinfected with COVID-19.

"The province is finalizing the process to capture and document reinfections but at this time, lab data shows less than a dozen true reinfections. These cases were only discovered through the investigation of other cases and close contacts, as they were largely asymptomatic," a spokesperson says in an email.

Some regions have been hit harder than others throughout the pandemic, including in the Northern Health Region where cramped living conditions have been contributing factor to the spread.

Percentage of people per health region who tested positive for COVID-19:

• Northern 74,175 people - 9,775 total cases (13.18 per cent)
• Southern Health 211,896 - 12,339 total cases(5.82 per cent)
• Winnipeg population 766,900 - 37,285 total cases (4.86 per cent)
• Interlake-Eastern 133,834 - 5,190 total cases (3.88 per cent)
• Prairie Mountain 172,641 - 5,551 total cases (3.22 per cent)

In March, data presented by Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin and Dr. Marcia Anderson, the public health lead of the First Nations Pandemic Response Coordination team, found BIPOC communities facing systemic barriers such as income and housing security faced disproportionately higher chances of contracting COVID-19.

Out of the 70,140 confirmed cases, 1,355 people have died. This means 1.93 per cent of all cases have ended in death, or one death for every 50 confirmed cases. Public Health has previously stated that the vast majority of these deaths are people who were not fully vaccinated, including those who died before a vaccine was made available.