Two deaths linked to COVID-19 variants in Manitoba; 71 new cases announced Wednesday

WINNIPEG — Manitoba is reporting two new deaths from COVID-19 in the province on Wednesday, both linked to variants of concern.

The deaths are a man in his 30s from the Interlake-Eastern Health Region, linked to an unspecified variant of concern, along with a man in his 50s from Winnipeg linked to the Alpha variant.

The death toll from COVID-19 in Manitoba is now 1,154.

Manitoba also announced 71 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total to 56,586. One previously announced case was removed due to a data correction.

Of the new cases, 32 were announced in Winnipeg, 19 were in the Interlake-Eastern Health Region, and 12 were in the Southern Health Region. The Northern Health Region and the Prairie Mountain Health Region each had four new cases.

Manitoba’s five-day test positivity rate is 5.6 per cent, while in Winnipeg, it is 5.5 per cent.

The province said there are 990 active cases and 54,442 people who have recovered from COVID-19.

There are 152 Manitobans hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, 64 have active cases of COVID-19, while 83 people are no longer infectious.

The bulletin said 38 Manitobans are receiving intensive care for COVID-19, with 33 patients in Manitoba and five patients in Ontario.

VARIANTS OF CONCERN

Manitoba has reported 15,797 total variant of concern cases since the pandemic started. The majority of variant cases are unspecified, with 8,160, followed by 6,968 Alpha variant cases.

The province has reported 357 Delta variant cases, 214 Gamma variant cases, and 73 Beta variant cases.

160 deaths in Manitoba have been linked to variants of concern.