COVID-19

Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says the Omicron variant is causing an "enormous" volume of COVID-19 cases, but severe illness is not rising at the same rate.

Tam says the average daily case count rose 65 per cent from last week, with an average of close to 42,000 cases being reported daily over the past seven days up to Wednesday.

Public health officials advise six new deaths in people with COVID-19 are being reported today:

There are no new COVID-19 deaths Friday.

The Province of Manitoba says there are 297 people in the hospital due to COVID-19, with 257 of those people having active cases of the virus.

In intensive care, there are 34 people, with all but one of those people having active cases.

Hospitalizations by health region include:

Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says the Omicron variant is causing an "enormous" volume of COVID-19 cases, but severe illness is not rising at the same rate.

Tam says the average daily case count rose 65 per cent from last week, with an average of close to 42,000 cases being reported daily over the past seven days up to Wednesday.

Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says the Omicron variant is causing an "enormous" volume of COVID-19 cases, but severe illness is not rising at the same rate.

Tam says the average daily case count rose 65 per cent from last week, with an average of close to 42,000 cases being reported daily over the past seven days up to Wednesday.

Students will be heading back to school next Monday and the Superintendent of Schools for Golden Hills School Division, Bevan Daverne, can’t wait to have the hallways full again.  

“I have to say that we're pretty excited to be going back to school here on Monday. However, we are certainly seeing the impact of COVID running through our communities. There are lots of positive cases and this has given us a little bit of time to prepare and plan for Monday. We are expecting there to be more absenteeism.” 

To protect the vulnerable population against COVID-19 and the Omicron variant the province is rolling out the fourth dose of the mRNA vaccine to eligible residents.

The introduction of the fourth dose came after information was provided by the Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee.

The Medical Officer of Health for the Northwestern Health Unit (NWHU), Dr. Kit Young Hoon explained the changes in fourth dose eligibility.

Restrictions continue to impact the Northwest as Sioux Lookout announces tighter restrictions and more closures following the recent COVID-19 surge.  

The Municipality of Sioux Lookout announced that as of January 5, 2022, the following municipal operations will be impacted for a minimum of three weeks.  

Changes to services and facilities that Sioux Lookout residents should be aware of include:  

Ten thousand dollars goes a long way. It’s certainly true that with an influx of funds donated to the Wheatland County Food Bank from Strathmore Ford, many, many people who have needed the help of the food bank during the COVID-19 pandemic, will not go hungry.

Chris Endecott, Strathmore Ford General Sales Manager explained how the team at Strathmore Ford felt being able to make such a sizeable donation, and at a time when so many people have needed the support of the food bank.

There’s a new resource for helping Albertans manage COVID-19 symptoms. 

Alberta Health Services launched a new web resource on Thursday (Jan.6) that provides information on what to do when you have symptoms of COVID-19, how to provide care at home for yourself or a family member, when to test for COVID-19, and how to manage symptoms.