Manitoba health officials say another two people with COVID-19 have died and 128 new infections have been identified across the province.
The latest cases reported on the province’s COVID-19 dashboard bring Manitoba’s active case count to 1,345 and the province’s five-day test positivity rate to 4.9 per cent.
The news comes Wednesday as health officials expanded the province’s third vaccine dose recommendations to include all Manitobans 70 years of age and older and all First Nations, Inuit and Métis people aged 18 and over.
They say third doses should be given at least six months after the last dose received, and whenever possible, third doses should be the same mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) as the previous dose, but either mRNA vaccine is safe to receive, they add.
Health officials have also changed the amount of time recommended between first and second doses, from 28 days to 56 days.
The change follows guidance from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, which says the longer timeframe has been shown to provide a stronger immune response over time.
Manitoba health officials say those who prefer to get their second dose 28 days after their first can still do so if they chose to.
Manitoba has seen hospitalizations due to COVID-19 rising in recent days, driven in part by high daily case numbers reported out of the Southern Health region, where vaccination uptake has been lower than other parts of the province.
On Wednesday, though, the Winnipeg Health region saw the most new cases, with 40 infections reported.
But of the 106 hospitalizations reported Wednesday, the majority — 45 — come from the Southern Health district, despite the area making up roughly 15 per cent of the province’s population.
Thirteen of the 23 people reported to be in intensive care due to COVID-19 Wednesday are also from the south, health data shows.
The rest of Wednesday’s new cases include 33 infections reported in the Northern Health region, 29 from the Southern Health region, 17 found in the Prairie Mountain Health region and nine in the Interlake-Eastern Health region.
In the last seven days, 391 of the 854 new COVID-19 cases reported in Manitoba have come from the Southern Health region.
A provincial site tracking vaccinations shows provincewide, 87 per cent of eligible Manitobans had received one shot of vaccine and 83.9 per cent had received two doses as of Wednesday.
But vaccine uptake in the southern district remains much lower, with 68.2 per cent of the eligible population listed as immunized, according to the site.
Certain areas of the southern district are worse than others in terms of vaccination, with Winkler’s uptake listed at 44 per cent and the RM of Stanley showing just over 25 per cent.
Health officials reported 127 new cases across the province and one death linked to the virus Tuesday.
Since March 2020, Manitoba has reported 63,931 COVID-19 cases and 1,251 deaths.
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.