Manitoba reports 128 new COVID-19 cases, 4 deaths

Another four Manitobans with COVID-19 have died and health officials say 128 new cases have been found across the province.

The cases reported on the province’s online COVID-19 dashboard Tuesday bring Manitoba’s total active case count to 1,418 and the province’s five-day test positivity rate to 5.2 per cent.

The number of deaths linked with the virus reported on the site rose four to 1,319. Details on the latest deaths will be made available in the province’s next COVID-19 media release Wednesday.

More than half of Tuesday’s new cases — 66 infections — were found in the Southern Health region, where vaccine uptake has been considerably lower than other parts of the province.

0:52 Manitoba First Nations booster shots

The Southern Health region makes up about 15 per cent of Manitoba’s total population.

Another 30 cases come from the Winnipeg Health region, 11 were found in the Prairie Mountain Health region, 13 were reported in the Northern Health region and eight were found in the Interlake-Eastern Health region.

Across the province, nearly 88 per cent of Manitobans born before Dec. 31, 2009, have received at least one shot of vaccine, but uptake remains slightly less than 70 per cent in the southern region, according to health data.

Health data shows 69 of Manitoba’s latest infections are among people who had yet to be vaccinated, seven were partially vaccinated and 52 were fully vaccinated.

0:46 Omicron variant not in Manitoba…yet.

Updated numbers on hospitalizations and patients in ICU as a result of COVID-19 weren’t available on the province’s website Tuesday.

At last word Monday, there were 142 Manitobans in hospital and 25 patients in ICU as a result of the virus.

The province announced 86 new cases Monday.

Since March 2020 Manitoba has now reported 67,877 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of those, 65,140 have since recovered, according to health data.

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.