Patients in Manitoba are suffering and dying while waiting for treatment for illnesses not related to COVID-19 because the health system is overwhelmed, a group of doctors said at a news conference Tuesday morning. The measures are necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19 and ease the burden on hospitals overwhelmed by the number of people critically ill with the coronavirus, the doctors say. As of Monday, there were 88 COVID-19 patients in intensive care, including 14 patients who were transferred to hospitals in Ontario. With COVID-19 patients taking up resources from other areas, the province has had to postpone many other urgent health-care procedures, such as cancer screening and diagnostics. Workplace transmissionDr. Pam Orr, an infectious disease specialist, said many COVID-19 patients report that they caught the virus at their non-essential workplaces, despite their best efforts to follow public health guidelines.

Source: CBC News May 25, 2021 10:00 UTC