Manitoba's top doctor says that Manitoba is once again experiencing an increase in COVID-19 cases.

Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba's chief provincial public health officer, held a press conference on Thursday afternoon for the first time since March 16 when the province stopped doing weekly updates. 

Roussin says that monitoring of wastewater in the province shows that the BA.2 subvariant is now the main one spreading. He says it's even more transmissible than the Omicron variant has been.

However, he was also quick to point out that the severity of cases so far has still been less severe throughout many regions across the world. Hospitalization rates are increasing again, mostly in people over the age of 80, but ICU rates continue to decline he says. Roussin also says that "many of those hospitalizations are incidental" explaining that everyone admitted to hospital is tested for COVID. He says many of the people come to the hospital with other issues and happen to test positive.

"COVID is going to be with us for some time," he says and encourages people to stay up to date with vaccines and continue to safe practices especially those at risk of severe outcomes. Manitoba just announced eligibility for people to receive a fourth dose earlier this week.

"We do have to accept that we can't continue to manage this virus in the same way we have intensely for these two years," he says.

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Updated April 4, 12:45 p.m. - added information and quotes from the press conference.