Manitoba expands COVID-19 vaccine eligibility, announces 87 new cases Saturday

Manitoba public health officials confirm one additional death in a person with COVID-19 is being reported Saturday.

The death is a man in his 80s from the Winnipeg Health Region.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 5 per cent provincially and 3.2 per cent in Winnipeg.

As of 9:30 a.m. Saturday, 89 new cases of the virus have been identified. However, two cases have been removed due to data correction.

This brings the net-new number of cases as of March 20 to 87 and the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba to 33,263.

Saturday’s COVID-19 data shows:

• two cases in the Interlake–Eastern health region
• 46 cases in the Northern health region
• five cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• six cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• 30 cases in the Winnipeg health region.

The data also shows there are 1,155 active cases and 31,188 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.

There are also 56 people in hospital with active COVID-19 as well as 77 people in hospital with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 133 hospitalizations.

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There are also 10 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 as well as 11 people with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, for a total of 21 ICU patients.

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The total number of deaths in people with COVID-19 is 920.

The total number of confirmed variant of concern cases of B.1.1.7 is 63 and B.1.351 is 13, bringing the total number of confirmed variant of concern cases to 76.

Laboratory testing numbers show 1,991 tests were completed Friday, bringing the total number of lab tests completed in Manitoba since early February 2020 to 561,466.

An outbreak has been declared at Riverview Health Centre Personal Care Home in Winnipeg. The facility has been moved to the Critical (Red) level on the Pandemic Response System.

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Effective Saturday, public health officials strongly recommend COVID-19 testing before travel to First Nations and Indigenous and Northern Relations communities, and before someone returns to a community if a resident has been away for more than 48 hours.

Testing is not required for individuals with a previous lab-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis in the past three months. Testing is recommended for individuals who have received one or two doses of vaccine.

Individuals without symptoms of COVID-19 travelling to, or returning to, a First Nations or Indigenous and Northern Relations community can seek testing within three days of travel at no cost at several COVID-19 testing sites in Winnipeg, Thompson and The Pas.

The province also expanded its eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine to include those 67 years of age and older and 47 years of age and older for First Nation people.