Manitoba reports 99 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death

Another Manitoban with COVID-19 has died and 99 more infections have been reported across the province.

The cases reported on the province’s online COVID-19 dashboard Tuesday bring Manitoba’s total active case count to 1,445 and the province’s five-day test positivity rate to 5.9 per cent.

The number of deaths reported on the site climbed one to 1,274.

Tuesday’s case count marks the first time the province has reported fewer than 100 new daily infections in just over two weeks. Health officials reported 157 new cases and one death Monday.

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The Southern Health region saw the largest one-day jump in cases Tuesday, with 41 infections reported.

Another 38 cases come from the Winnipeg Health region, 14 were found in the Prairie Mountain Health region, two were reported in the Northern Health region and four were found in the Interlake-Eastern Health region.

Health data shows 52 of Manitoba’s latest infections are among people who had yet to be vaccinated, five were partially vaccinated and 42 were fully vaccinated.

Officials say there were 157 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 reported as of Tuesday morning and 29 patients in intensive care units as a result of the virus.

Health data shows 2,244 tests for COVID-19 were performed Monday.

A provincial site tracking vaccination efforts shows 87.2 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received one shot of vaccine and 84.4 have received two doses. According to the site, 845 vaccinations were scheduled on Tuesday.

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Vaccine uptake has been considerably lower in parts of Southern Health, where 68.7 per cent of those eligible have been immunized as of Tuesday, according to the site.

Meanwhile, a provincial site tracking variants shows Manitoba currently has 524 active variant cases, including two active Alpha cases, 32active Delta infections and 490 unspecified cases.

Since variant cases were first found in Manitoba in mid-February, the province has reported 22,285 cases and 258 deaths linked to the more contagious strains.

In all, Manitoba has reported 65,856 COVID-19 cases since March 2020.

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.