South African firefighters in Manitoba who tested positive for COVID-19 cleared for active duty

Two South African firefighters deployed to Manitoba to help battle the province's wildfires have been cleared to safely return to work, the government says.

More than 100 firefighters from that country along with support staff got to Manitoba on Wednesday. They were all tested for COVID-19 before they left for the trip and again once they arrived, the province said earlier this week.

Two days after the crew's arrival, the province said two of its members had tested positive for the illness. They and their close contacts were then mandated to self-isolate.

On Sunday, a government spokesperson said public health officials had advised that those test results "indicated previous infections and not current, active cases." 

"This means those in isolation can safely return to active duty," the spokesperson said in an email.

Manitoba's wildfire service continues to follow its COVID-19 response plan and advice from public health officials.

That involved regular rapid testing for the illness from the beginning of the fire season this spring, including among the South African deployment, the spokesperson said.

The service will continue to follow those protocols "throughout this deployment and the remainder of this challenging fire season," the spokesperson said.

Following the announcement of the two positive test results among the South African firefighters earlier this week, the province said all other members of that team had tested negative and added further testing would be done as required.

The crew from South Africa is expected to remain in Manitoba for 34 days. They will work independently with supervision from the province, a government spokesperson said earlier this week.

As of Manitoba's most recent fire update report on Friday, there were 136 active burning wildfires across the province.