For the fourth day in a row, Manitoba health officials are reporting multiple new cases of highly-contagious COVID-19 variants in the province.
The latest variants of concern include 11 cases of the B.1.1.7 strain, first identified in the United Kingdom, and one case of the B.1.351 variant, first discovered in South Africa.
A release from the province says nine of the B.1.1.7 variant cases were found in the Winnipeg Health region, while two come from the Southern Health region. The lone B.1.351 variant case was reported in the Prairie Mountain Health region.
Fifty-one of the Manitoba’s 63 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant identified since the province saw its first case Feb. 9 have been reported in the last four days.
Manitoba’s total count of variant of concern cases sits at 76, including 13 cases of the B.1.351 strain.
The province announced the latest variants of concern cases in a press release that didn’t say when the cases were identified, how the individuals were infected, whether or not the patients have recovered, or how many contacts they may have had.
“Case investigations continue and if public health identifies a risk, the public will be notified,” the release reads.
Meanwhile, health officials reported another death connected to COVID-19 Thursday as well as 91 new cases of the virus.
The virus’ latest victim is a woman in her 60s connected to an outbreak at Portage District General Hospital. She is the 918th Manitoban with COVID-19 to die.
Of the new cases, 42 are from the Northern health region, 33 are from the Winnipeg health region, six were reported in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region, six were found in the Prairie Mountain Health region, and four were found in the Interlake–Eastern health region.
The province says two previously announced cases have been removed due to data corrections, leaving Manitoba’s total number of cases at 33,085 to date.
Provincial data shows there are currently 1,089 active cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba.
There are now 146 people in hospital as a result of novel coronavirus and 23 patients in ICU connected to the virus, according to the province.
Laboratory testing numbers show 2,473 tests were completed Wednesday, bringing the total number of lab tests completed since February 2020 to 557,277.
The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 4.7 per cent provincially and 3.6 per cent in Winnipeg, according to provincial data.
On Wednesday 96 new cases and no deaths were reported in Manitoba.
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. In some provinces and municipalities across the country, masks or face coverings are now mandatory in indoor public spaces.
For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, visit our coronavirus page.
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