Manitoba reports 218 COVID-19 cases, 2 deaths

Manitoba is reporting its highest jump in new daily COVID-19 cases since mid June as the provincial test positivity rate continues to climb.

Officials announced 218 new cases Thursday and say the provincial five-day test positivity rate is now 6.6, nearly a full percentage point higher than was reported Monday.

Health data posted on the province’s COVID-19 website shows 1,359 Manitobans with COVID-19 have now died, a rise of two deaths in the last 24 hours.

Details of the latest cases and deaths will come in the province’s next COVID-19 update Friday.

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Nearly half of Manitoba’s latest cases — 108 infections — were found in the  Winnipeg Health region.

Another 36 cases were reported in the Southern Health region, 23 were found in the Prairie Mountain Health region, 34 were reported in the Northern Health region and 17 were found in the Interlake-Eastern Health region.

Health data shows 80 of Manitoba’s latest infections are among people who had yet to be vaccinated, while 17 were partially vaccinated and 121 were fully vaccinated.

As of Thursday morning, health officials said 139 Manitobans are hospitalized due to COVID-19 and 33 patients are in ICUs as a result of the virus.

Of the patients in hospital with COVID-19, 61 per cent are unvaccinated, while those 91 per cent of those in the ICU have not been inoculated, the province said.

Despite making up a much smaller proportion of Manitoba’s population, health officials say unvaccinated citizens account for 43 per cent of the province’s 1,753 active COVID-19 cases.

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According to a provincial site tracking vaccinations, 84.1 per cent of eligible Manitobans aged five and up have received one dose of vaccine and 78.1 per cent have received two shots. Of those eligible for a third dose, 11.3 per cent have gotten the booster.

The province says 3,427 lab tests for COVID-19 were completed in Manitoba on Wednesday.

Since March 2020, Manitoba has now reported 70,551 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of those, 67,439 have since recovered, according to health data.

Manitoba reported 206 new cases and two additional deaths Wednesday.