Two COVID-19 deaths reported by Manitoba health officials Thursday

Manitoba public health officials have reported two new deaths in people with COVID-19 Thursday.

Two women from the Winnipeg region — one in her 40s and one in her 70s, both of whom were linked to the Alpha variant, have died.

As of Thursday morning, 46 net-new cases have been identified in the province, bringing Manitoba’s total number of lab-confirmed cases to 57,548.

Of the new cases, 21 were in the Interlake-Eastern health region, 13 in Winnipeg, and the other regions of the province reported single-digit cases.

The current five-day test positivity rate is 2.1 per cent provincially and 1.1 per cent in Winnipeg.