Manitoba bans non-essential travel to northern region of province

Manitoba has brought in new rules to try and control the spread of COVID-19, including a ban on all non-essential travel to the northern regions.

“Travel to northern Manitoba (north of the 53rd parallel of latitude) is prohibited with some exceptions, including: residents of northern and remote communities may continue to move within the north; delivery of goods and services may continue; and exceptions include those who travel to the north for employment, medical treatment or to facilitate child-custody agreements,” said Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief public health officer, in his daily statement on the crisis.

Manitoba currently has 250 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus. Five people have died since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11. Another 121 people have recovered.

The move comes as chiefs of northern First Nations were calling on the province to cut off travel to the north.

The province initially rejected the request.

According to Roussin, the province is also expanding its testing to include; all symptomatic “workers or volunteers at workplaces that have been identified as essential services,” and, “any symptomatic person who lives with a health care worker, first responder or worker in a congregate setting such as a correctional facility, shelter, long-term care or residential facility.”

The province won’t say how many people in First Nations communities have been tested citing privacy laws.

People who are tested now include travellers coming in from out of province, a close contact of a confirmed case, health care workers and all patients admitted to a hospital with respiratory symptoms, says the province.

As of this posting, 18,349 people in Manitoba — or 1.3 per cent of the population — have been tested, which puts the province in the middle of the pack across the country in terms of testing.

Roussin said the northern restriction will be in place until May 1.