A spokesperson for Shared Health says there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Lanette Siragusa is referring to what has been happening with the COVID-19 pandemic in Manitoba.

On November 22nd, our province reached a high of 593 new cases. Since then, numbers have been declining steadily and today the daily case count was 89.

This downward trend is also being noticed in hospitals. Siragusa says nearly two months ago they peaked at 388 hospitalizations and 129 patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Today, there are 255 COVID-19 patients in hospital and 102 patients in ICU throughout the province. Siragusa says that is the lowest number of hospitalizations since November 18th.

Of the 102 patients in the ICU, Siragusa says 38 of them have COVID-19 related illnesses. And, 25 of the 58 patients on ventilators either have COVID-19 or have had that virus.

"The critical care numbers are not going down as quickly as we thought they would and that's likely the nature of COVID," admits Siragusa.

She says when someone has to be intubated and their lungs are impacted, it can take some time to recover. Siragusa says she hopes this is just a delayed response and that the critical care numbers begin to improve soon as well.

"These improved numbers across the board really are the efforts of all Manitobans making so many sacrifices for so many weeks and months," she says. "So I just want to acknowledge all those efforts, all those sacrifices, and we're definitely going in the right direction."

According to Siragusa, the number of COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the province also continues to improve. She notes within their hospital facilities, there are five outbreaks over four facilities, totalling 13 active cases.

Within personal care homes, there are 26 outbreaks currently in Manitoba. Siragusa says 22 of those outbreaks have one or fewer active cases. She notes 14 of these outbreaks have zero active cases, but they are working through the incubation period. There are 50 active cases, including residents and staff at personal care homes in our province.

Siragusa says there has also been improvement in the number of health care workers who have tested positive for COVID-19. In the last week, there were 16 positive cases, including two in Southern Health, compared to a provincial total of 83 during a one week stretch in early December.

"Knowing that there's light at the end of the tunnel is reassuring and definitely gives some hope," says Siragusa.

However, she says not all staff have returned to their home site and so it still leaves some in a precarious situation.