Five deaths, 294 new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba on Saturday

WINNIPEG — Five more people have died from COVID-19 in Manitoba, four of the deaths linked to variants of concern.

The deaths were announced in Saturday’s COVID-19 bulletin and bring the death toll in Manitoba to 1,093.

Four of the deaths were in the Winnipeg Health Region. They include a female and male, both in their 60s, linked to the B.1.1.7 variant of concern, a female in her 60s linked to an unspecified variant of concern, and a female in her 70s.

The other death was a man in his 60s from the Southern Health Region, linked to the B.1.1.7 variant of concern.

The province also announced 294 new cases of the virus, with three being removed due to a data correction, bringing the total number of lab-confirmed cases to 54,163.

Manitoba’s five-day test positivity rate now sits at 11.2 per cent and is the same in Winnipeg.

The majority of the newly announced cases are in the Winnipeg Health region with 163. Fifty-three were reported in the Southern Health region, 32 in the Northern health Region with 23 new cases reported in both the Interlake-Eastern and Priairie Mountain health regions.

The province now has 3,437 active cases of the virus with 49,633 recoveries.

The total number of lab-confirmed  tests completed since early February in the province now sits at 799,662, after 2,225 tests were completed on Friday.

HOSPITALIZATIONS

There are currently 285 people in Manitoba hospitals because of COVID-19, with 204 people with active cases of the virus and another 81 who are no longer infectious but still require care.

A total of 82 patients require intensive care because of COVID-19. In Manitoba, 56 people are receiving critical care, 37 patients with active cases of the virus and another 19 who are no longer infectious but still require care.

Another 26 Manitobans are being treated in ICUs outside of the province, with 25 in Ontario and one in Alberta.

No COVID-19 patients were transported out-of-province Friday for care, but 26 individuals did return to Manitoba hospitals for continuing care after being treated in out-of-province ICUs.

VARIANTS OF CONCERN

Variants of concern continue to be reported in the province, making up 2,109 of Manitoba’s active cases.

The majority of the cases are unspecified with 7,742, followed by the B.1.1.7 variant with 5,848. There are 166 cases of the P1 variant, 78 of the B.1617.2, 14 of the B.1617.1 and  9 of the B.1617.

Another 45 cases of the B.1351 variant have been reported.

There have been 104 deaths linked to variants of concern on Manitoba.