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Glimmer of hope amid skyrocketing COVID-19 cases

As Manitoba's COVID-19 infection rates reach some of their highest yet, with more than 2,000 new cases recorded over the past four days, the pace of the vaccine rollout is offering a glimmer of hope that the province is in a better position now compared with last fall.

Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba's chief provincial public health officer, said Monday it's too soon to say if restrictions would be loosened when public health orders expire at the end of the month. The orders, which came into effect Sunday, are the strictest measures Manitoba has had since second-wave lockdown restrictions were lifted in February.

"We are considering a significant amount of Manitobans protected by the end of May, so we really wanted to have that opportunity to review things very closely, see if there's any chances to loosen some of these restrictions at that point," Roussin said.

For the third day since Friday, Manitoba recorded more than 500 new cases of COVID-19 — matching the province’s third-highest daily case count since the beginning of the pandemic. Another grim milestone is on the horizon as the province's death toll from the virus rose to 997, with four more deaths announced Monday.

Opening of Bruce Oake Treatment Centre is 'not the finish line, it's the start

The COVID-19 pandemic has been responsible for postponing or cancelling all kinds of projects, but it didn’t affect construction of the Bruce Oake Treatment Centre, which will be finished months before the planned fall opening.

Sour celebration: Mother’s Day call to remote learning weighs on parents, teachers

Rather than join her children on a hike Sunday, Brandy Cook was among the many teacher/mothers in Manitoba who spent what was supposed to be an afternoon of celebration preparing for an abrupt shift to remote learning.

It was not the extra work, which has been constant for educators throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, nor cancelled plans that frustrated her. What angered Cook was the timing of the province’s announcement: 1:30 p.m. on Mother’s Day.

“The reality is that child care in a large amount of families falls onto mothers. The pandemic has affected women at higher rates than men. They’re the ones expected to make sacrifices,” said Cook, who teaches Grade 9 social studies, science and English in Winnipeg.

“The idea that they waited until Mother’s Day seemed malicious and sexist, and it just really made me angry because it was unnecessary.”

Scores of dead bodies found floating in India's Ganges River

NEW DELHI (AP) — Scores of dead bodies have been found floating down the Ganges River in eastern India as the country battles a ferocious surge in coronavirus infections. Authorities said Tuesday they haven't yet determined the cause of death.

Health officials working through the night Monday retrieved 71 bodies, officials in Bihar state said.

Images on social media of the bodies floating in the river prompted outrage and speculation that they died from COVID-19. Authorities performed post mortems on Tuesday but said they could not confirm the cause of death due to the decomposition of the bodies.

More corpses were found floating in the river on Tuesday, washing up in Ghazipur district in neighboring Uttar Pradesh state. Police and villagers were at the site, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Monday’s incident.