154 new COVID-19 cases, 2 deaths reported in Manitoba on Thursday
CBC
There are 154 new COVID-19 cases in Manitoba on Thursday and two more people have died from the illness, the province says in a news release.
The two deaths are men from the Southern Health region: one in his 40s and one in his 80s.
The province also provided more details about deaths announced earlier this week. The two announced Wednesday have now been identified as a woman in her 70s from the Southern Health region and a man in his 80s from the Prairie Mountain Health region.
A death announced Tuesday has now been identified as a man in his 80s from the Southern Health region.
All five of those deaths are linked to unspecified coronavirus variants, the release said. The latest deaths bring Manitoba's total to 1,253.
The daily case count is Manitoba's highest since June 18, when the province reported 189 new infections.
The new cases also bring Manitoba's seven-day running average daily count to 127 — a new high for the province's fourth wave.
The last time the number was that high — on June 22, when it was 129 — Manitoba's third wave was receding.
Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate remains 4.9 per cent, the release said. In Winnipeg, the rate is now up to two per cent. Manitoba completed 3,644 more COVID-19 tests on Wednesday.
Almost half the new cases are in the Southern Health region, which reported 70 new infections, with 59 — or 84 per cent — in people not fully vaccinated against the illness.
The rest are split between the Winnipeg health region (with 33 new cases, including 16 not fully vaccinated), the Northern Health Region (with 21, including nine not fully vaccinated), the Prairie Mountain Health region (with 15, 11 not fully vaccinated) and the Interlake-Eastern health region (with 15, seven not fully vaccinated).
Overall, that means nearly two-thirds of Manitoba's latest COVID-19 cases are in people not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, the release said.
The number of people hospitalized with the illness has jumped to 115 from 106 on Wednesday, while the number in intensive care rose one to 24.
There are now 1,145 active cases of the illness in Manitoba, where 61,685 people to date have recovered from COVID-19.