Two more COVID-19 deaths in Manitoba, 173 new cases reported on Friday

WINNIPEG — Manitoba has reported two more deaths related to COVID-19.

The most recent deaths, which were reported on Friday, include a woman in her 80s whose death has been linked to the outbreak at Heritage Life Personal Care Home in the Southern Health region, and a man in his 80s whose death has been linked to the outbreak at the Southeast Personal Care Home in Winnipeg.

These deaths bring the total number of deaths related to COVID-19 in Manitoba to 795.

Along with the deaths, the province reported 173 new cases, the majority of which were reported in the Northern Health Region.

The region has become a hot spot of COVID-19 cases in Manitoba, with 64 new cases reported on Friday. The region has the highest number of active cases in the province, with 1,561 active cases. Due to the high case count, the province said the region, along with Churchill, will remain under strict code red restrictions when health orders expire at midnight.

The rest of the province will see some restrictions eased beginning Saturday morning.

READ MORE: Eased code red restrictions for parts of Manitoba take effect Saturday

Winnipeg reported 56 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the five-day test positivity rate in the region to 6.2 per cent.

The other cases reported on Friday include:

Friday's cases bring the province's five-day test positivity rate to 9.3 per cent. The total number of cases Manitoba has seen since the pandemic started is now 28,260, though two cases were removed from the total due to a data correction.

The province reported 3,261 people have active cases of COVID-19, and 24,204 people have recovered.

There were 274 people in hospital with COVID-19 as of Friday, including 133 people with active cases and 141 people who are no longer infectious but still need care. Of the 39 patients in intensive care as of Friday, 24 people had active cases and 15 people were no longer infectious but still needed critical care.

The province said 2,070 tests were completed on Thursday, bringing the total number of tests done since early February 2020 to 461,250.

OUTBREAK DECLARED IN HEALTH CENTRE

The province said an outbreak was declared at the Pembina Manitou Health Centre and Personal Care Home in Manitou. The site was moved to the critical or red level on the pandemic response system.

The province said a number of outbreaks have been declared over, including: