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Northwestern Health Unit reports 12 COVID-19 cases

Health unit reports seven confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Kenora region, five in Sioux Lookout region.
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KENORA – The Northwester Health Unit reported 12 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 Sunday.

Seven of those involved individuals in the NWHU’s Kenora region. Another five were in the Sioux Lookout region.

The health unit had reported 15 new cases the day before, breaking a week of daily case counts in the single digits. That has seen improvements to several key COVID-19 indicators in the NWHU.

The number of active cases stood at 69 Friday, including 63 in the Kenora region, 3 in the Dryden/Red Lake region, and 3 in the Sioux Lookout region.

Active cases had reached a high of 107 in the health unit on Feb. 19.

There were three NWHU residents hospitalized with the virus as of Friday. The health unit does not provide data updates over the weekend.

A steep increase in cases in recent weeks has been mostly attributed to a large outbreak in Wabaseemoong Independent Nations by health authorities, though the health unit has declined to identify the community.

NWHU medical officer of health Dr. Kit Young Hoon expressed hope that outbreak was “plateauing,” and possibly beginning to shrink, earlier this week.

The health unit’s incidence rate fell to 74.1 cases per 100,000 people for the most recent rolling five-day period of Feb. 18 to 24, according to provincial data.

That figure had hit 117.5 for the period of Feb. 12 to 18, the highest in the province at the time.

One case of the more contagious, and possibly more deadly variant B.1.1.7, also known as the U.K. variant, has been detected in the health unit, in the Dryden area.




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