Another two Manitobans with COVID-19 have died and health officials say 237 more people have fallen ill with the virus.
The province’s latest victims include man in his 80s from the Winnipeg Health region and a man in his 60s from the Interlake-Eastern Health region linked to the the Alpha variant, the strain that first emerged in the United Kingdom previously referred to as B.1.1.7.
The majority of the new cases — 144 — were found in the Winnipeg area. Another 42 were reported in the Southern Health region, 21 were found in the Northern Health region, 17 were reported in the Prairie Mountain Health region, and 13 were found in the Interlake-Eastern Health region.
Three previously announced cases were removed due to data corrections, leaving Manitoba’s total case count at 53,153.
The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 12 per cent provincially and 12.6 per cent in Winnipeg.
Since March 2020, 1,079 Manitobans with COVID-19 have died.
Laboratory testing numbers show 1,993 tests were completed Monday, bringing the total number of lab tests done since early February 2020 to 789,759.
Dauphin schools remain closed
Health officials say elevated COVID-19 case numbers in the Dauphin area mean schools will continue with remote learning for another few weeks.
On Tuesday the province said kindergarten to Grade 12 schools in Dauphin will remain closed to in-person classes until at least June 21.
They had been slated to potentially open June 9.
Students in Winnipeg, Brandon and some other rural areas have already been told they will remain under remote learning for the rest of the school year as the province tries to curb COVID-19 case numbers that have pushed the health-care system to the brink in recent weeks.
As of Tuesday morning, there were a total of 336 Manitobans hospitalized as a result of COVID-19, both in Manitoba and in neighbouring provinces.
Those numbers include 300 in hospital in Manitoba (68 of whom are in ICU) and 36 who are in ICUs outside of the province.
Manitoba started moving critically ill patients to Ontario in order to free up ICU space here on May 18.
Since then hospitals in Alberta and Saskatchewan have also agreed to take Manitoba patients.
There are currently 33 Manitobans in ICU in Ontario, two in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan. The province says 17 others have returned to hospital in Manitoba.
The province says a previously declared outbreak at Donwood Manor in Winnipeg has ended.
Variants of concern
Meanwhile, Manitoba continues to see increasing numbers of variants of concern (VOC), with more than half of the province’s active cases linked to the more contagious strains.
There are currently 3,836 active COVID-19 cases in Manitoba, and 2,380 infections are confirmed to be variants.
A provincial website tracking VOC cases, updated Tuesday through Saturday, shows Manitoba has so far recorded 12,907 variant cases.
The most dominant VOC in Manitoba is the Alpha variant, with 5,528 confirmed cases.
The province has also recorded 41 cases of the Beta variant, which first emerged in South Africa and was previously referred to as B.1.351, 145 cases of the Gamma variant, which was first detected in Brazil and previously referred to as P.1, and 83 cases of the Delta strain, first identified in India and previously called B.1.617.
Another 7,110 variant cases are as yet unspecified, according to the province’s website.
Since the first VOC cases were found in Manitoba in February, 93 COVID-19-related deaths have been linked to variants.
Manitoba reported 169 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths Monday.
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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