One COVID-19 death in Manitoba linked to variant, test positivity lowest since May

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WINNIPEG — Another death in Manitoba has been linked to the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant of concern, as the province reported 183 new cases and a test-positivity rate that continues to drop in Manitoba.

The death reported on Thursday was a woman in her 60s from the Winnipeg region. In total, there have been 1,112 people who have died with COVID-19, including 121 deaths that have been linked to variants of concern.

READ MORE: Manitoba identifies 11 more cases as the Delta variant on Thursday

Along with the 183 cases on Thursday, the province reported a five-day test positivity rate of 8.8 per cent.

The province's test positivity rate has been dropping fairly steadily since hitting its third-wave peak of 14.5 per cent on May 23.

The last time the province's positivity rate was this low was on May 5.

The cases on Thursday bring Manitoba's total to 54,915, which includes 2,532 active cases and 51,271 recoveries.

The province said seven cases have been removed from the total due to a data correction.

A total of 246 COVID-19 patients were in hospital on Thursday – a drop compared to the 251 patients in hospital on Wednesday.

Of these ICU patients, 60 were in intensive care, including 40 who have active cases and 20 who are no longer infectious but still need critical care.

The province said there were 20 ICU patients receiving care at hospitals outside of Manitoba, with 19 in Ontario and one in Alberta. Thirty patients who were previously receiving out-of-province care have been returned to Manitoba hospitals.

The province said no COVID-19 patients were taken out of the province on Wednesday.

There were 2,079 lab tests done on Wednesday, bringing Manitoba's total number of tests completed since early February 2020 to 809,449.