KENORA, Ont. — Health officials are telling residents of Northwestern Ontario to avoid travel out of the region, specifically to Manitoba, for any non-essential reason.
Community transmission of COVID-19 is happening in that province.
Manitoba is experiencing its worst COVID-19 numbers seen since the onset of the pandemic.
The provincial government and the city of Winnipeg have both changed their pandemic response levels and have enhanced public health orders.
"We hope that the new orders put in place [Monday] will help reduce the current spike in cases that our neighbours are seeing," said Dr. Kit Young Hoon, the medical officer of health for the Northwestern Health Unit.
In the meantime, Young Hoon said anyone who travels to Winnipeg for an essential purpose should limit their interactions with others as much as possible for 14 days.
She said it's especially important to avoid contact with individuals at high risk of complications or death from COVID-19.
"This would include not visiting long-term care homes, people aged 60 years or over, immunocompromised individuals, and those with underlying health conditions."
On Tuesday morning, the Northwestern Health Unit announced it had received a report of one new positive COVID-19 test result in the Sioux Lookout area.
It said followup with the person involved and their contacts has started according to protocol. Anyone who is identified as a contact for this case will be contacted directly.
There are currently four active cases of COVID-19 in the NWHU jurisdiction, including two in the Kenora area and one in the Dryden/Red Lake region.
In the jurisdiction of the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, there is one active case.
