WINNIPEG – The Province is working with the Canadian Red Cross to reinforce Manitoba Health’s contact tracing capacity. Health Minister Cameron Friesen says the Manitoba government is looking at every option for responding to COVID-19, and the Red Cross will help investigate cases and follow up with Manitobans who are in self-isolation. He says the work the agency is able to perform can be critical to managing the increase in case counts, particularly in situations where there are a high number of close contacts. The Canadian Red Cross is now hiring a Contact Tracing Operations Manager to help form their contact tracing team.

The provincial government also says Statistics Canada will bring contact tracing services to the table as part of a federal partnership, as new drive-through and drive-up testing sites open in Brandon, Winkler, Portage la Prairie, and Arborg.

Manitoba announced 129 new COVID-19 cases and two more deaths over the weekend. Manitoba’s COVID-19 death toll now stands at 40 people. There are now 1,675 active cases in the province, with 1,436 of them in Winnipeg.