312 new COVID-19 cases in Manitoba, one new death Wednesday

WINNIPEG — Manitoba announced 312 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total since March 2020 to 49,356.

The five-day test positivity rate in the province is 13.3 per cent.

Of the new cases, 240 are from Winnipeg and the city has a test positivity rate of 15 per cent.

Southern Health had 34 new COVID-19 cases, 20 came from the Interlake-Eastern Health Region, 11 from the Prairie Mountain Health Region, and seven from the Northern Health Region.

Two previously announced cases were removed due to data correction.

One new death was also reported. However, one previously announced death, a man in his 30s from Winnipeg on May 25, was removed due to a data correction, so the death toll stays at 1,035.

The death was a woman in her 90s from the Winnipeg area and she was linked to an outbreak at the Holy Family Home.

CTV News previously reported there had been no deaths based on what the province's dashboard said before the bulletin was released.

There are currently 4,792 active cases and 43,529 people have recovered.

Manitoba has had 9,418 variant of concern cases and 2,606 cases are currently active. The majority of the cases are unspecified with 4,971, followed closely by the B.1.1.7 variant at 4,298.

There have been 55 deaths linked to variants.

There are 318 people in hospital, including 74 people in ICU. Of the hospital numbers, 253 have active COVID-19, including 57 in intensive care.

Shared Health also provided an update on the number of ICU patients that have been transferred from Manitoba to Ontario.

Five new patients were sent to Ontario on Tuesday, bringing the total to 23.

The patients were sent to Ottawa, Thunder Bay, and St.Thomas, Ont.

More patients are scheduled to be transferred on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, 2,297 tests were performed, bringing the total to 754,338 since February 2020.

DELAYS IN BOOKING SECOND DOSES

The province announced on Wednesday that bookings for second dose appointments have been expanded to those who received their first dose on March 29 or earlier.

With the announcement, it has led to a delay in the booking process. The province said online booking times peaked at 20 minutes, while the call centre is currently dealing with 45 minute wait times.

The province added the online wait time is now gone.