Case investigations suggest most of the cases in that region are linked to intentional testing done among known clusters in multiple Hutterite communities, Roussin and Health Minister Cameron Friesen said.

There are now seven cases linked to an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Bethesda Place personal care home in Steinbach, Man., with staff and residents affected.

Another sixteen cases were announced in the Southern Health region, along with nine in the Winnipeg health region, one in the Interlake-Eastern Health region and one in the Northern Health region.

The five-day test positivity rate jumped to 2.7 per cent from 1.8 per cent on Saturday.

Seven people are now in hospital with the illness caused by the new coronavirus in Manitoba, including one person in intensive care.

The update brings the province’s active caseload to 356. To date, 576 people with COVID-19 in Manitoba have recovered and 12 have died, including four fatalities linked to the illness in recent days.

On Saturday, Manitoba broke its record for the highest single-day increase in new COVID-19 cases, with 42 announced.

Two Manitoba First Nations political advocacy groups called on public health officials to bring back a travel restriction to the north that ended on June 26.

That demand came after Fox Lake Cree Nation’s Bird reserve went into lockdown after the community said it learned a traveller in the nearby town of Gillam later tested positive for COVID-19.

On Saturday, 1,839 more COVID-19 tests were done in Manitoba, bringing the total number done in the province to 125,300.