Manitoba reports 201 new COVID-19 cases, 4 deaths

Manitoba health officials say another four Manitobans with COVID-19 have died and 201 more infections have been reported across the province.

The cases reported on the province’s online COVID-19 dashboard Friday bring Manitoba’s total active case count to 1,449 including 523 confirmed to be variants of concern.

It’s the biggest one-day jump in new cases reported in Manitoba since June 12, according to records kept by Global News.

The number of deaths reported on the site climbed four to 1,285. Details of the latest deaths will be reported in the province’s next COVID-19 update, expected Monday.

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The province’s five-day test positivity rate now sits at 5.2 per cent.

The Southern Health region saw the largest one-day jump in cases Friday, with 66 infections reported.

Another 62 cases come from the Winnipeg Health region, 26 were found in the Prairie Mountain Health region, 26 were reported in the Northern Health region and 21 were found in the Interlake-Eastern Health region.

Health data shows 116 of Manitoba’s latest infections are among people who had yet to be vaccinated, six were partially vaccinated and 79 were fully vaccinated.

Officials say there were 154 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 reported as of Friday morning and 27 patients in intensive care units as a result of the virus.

A provincial site tracking vaccination efforts shows 87.3 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received one shot of vaccine and 84.6 have received two doses. According to the site, 174 vaccinations were scheduled on Friday.

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Vaccine uptake has been considerably lower in parts of Southern Health, where 68.9 per cent of those eligible have been immunized as of Friday, according to the site.

Health data shows 3,375 tests for COVID-19 were performed Thursday.

The province announced 179 new cases Thursday and five additional deaths.

Manitoba has now reported 66,378 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.