Manitoba reports 51 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death

Manitoba health officials are reporting 51 new COVID-19 cases and one additional death linked to the virus.

The cases reported Wednesday on the province’s online COVID-19 dashboard bring Manitoba’s active case count to 998 and the province’s five-day test positivity rate to 3.1 per cent.

The number of deaths linked to COVID-19 reported on the dashboard roes one to 1,235

Details of the latest deaths will be provided in the province’s next COVID-19 media release, expected Thursday..

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The Southern Health region saw the province’s largest one-day jump in cases, with 23 infections reported Wednesday.

Another 17 cases come from the Winnipeg Health region, six were found in the Prairie Mountain Health region, three were found in the Interlake-Eastern Health region, and two were found in the Northern Health region.

According to the province, 39 of Manitoba’s latest infections are among people who were not fully vaccinated.

As of Wednesday morning, 87 Manitobans are in hospital due to COVID-19 and 19 patients are in intensive care units as a result of the virus.

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Meanwhile, a provincial site tracking variants shows Manitoba has 607 active variant of concern cases.

But exactly which variants they are isn’t clear for 603 of those cases, which are labelled “unspecified” on the site. Of the four specified active VOC  cases, two are Alpha and two are Delta infections.

Since the first variant cases were found in Manitoba in mid-February, the province has reported 20,150 cases and 227 deaths linked to the more contagious strains.

In  all the province has reported 62,383 COVID-19 cases.

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Health data shows 2,451 tests for COVID-19 were performed Tuesday.

A provincial site tracking vaccination efforts shows 86.3 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received one shot of vaccine and 82.8 have received two doses.

There were 1,769 vaccine appointments scheduled Wednesday, according to the site.

Manitoba reported 102 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths Tuesday.

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.