The province is reporting 20 COVID-19 deaths in one week after changing the way it collects data related to the virus.

The Dec. 3-9 number represents a staggering week-over-week increase in the death toll — a jump of more than 500 per cent compared to the previous week — because of the change in data collection.

“The new reporting standard is both more complete and more timely, as is based on direct reporting from the hospitals to Manitoba Health, compared to the prior methodology,” a provincial spokesperson stated Wednesday, saying prior and current data both report “COVID-associated” deaths.

“The change in reporting methodology is a contributing factor to the increase in reported deaths.

The provincial government has blocked the release of any documents related to workload and staff-shortage concerns raised by the Crown attorneys union, citing cabinet negotiations and labour arbitration concerns.

Amid repeated alarms raised by the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys about their members’ workloads, the Free Press sought access to internal Manitoba Justice Department advisory notes, reports and memos about the issue via a freedom-of-information request.

The union filed a grievance with the government in April 2023 over workload concerns, arguing the issue was becoming untenable. The former president of the association said in January that the problem had only become more urgent, putting the public at risk.

Officials with the association have long warned the number of Crowns employed by the province has not kept up as crime rates worsen and cases become more complex, leading to concerns about public safety and the administration of justice.

Provincial officials are denying the government and the Brandon Correctional Centre were negligent in the lead-up to a brutal, fatal beating of an inmate by other prisoners last September.

Collin Kempthorne, 44, was attacked by other inmates in the Brandon Correctional Centre at about 10 p.m. on Sept. 26, 2024. He died of his injuries on Nov. 11, after doctors discovered he had little to no brain activity when he woke from a coma in October.

His family filed a lawsuit in the Court of King’s Bench in July over his death, naming the correctional centre, the provincial government and the attorney general, as well as the three inmates charged in Kempthorne’s death, as defendants.

The court papers claim jail staff were negligent and contributed to Kempthorne’s death and that provincial officials are liable for what corrections workers did or did not do.