Daily COVID-19 cases continue to drop in Manitoba as 25 new cases, 1 death reported Tuesday

For the second day in a row, Manitoba public health officials announced a daily COVID-19 case count that hasn't been seen since before the second wave of the pandemic, reporting 25 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday.

The death of a man in his 40s from the Winnipeg health region linked to the B.1.1.7 or alpha variant of concern was also reported Tuesday. 

On Monday, Manitoba health officials reported just 31 cases, which was the lowest daily COVID-19 case count since Sept. 22, when the province reported 24 new cases. 

The five-day test positivity rate in Manitoba dropped to 4.5 per cent, down from five per cent the day before.

There were 972 COVID-19 tests completed Monday. 

There are now 133 Manitobans hospitalized with COVID-19, down five from Monday. 

Of those patients, 34 are in intensive care, up one since Monday. 

There are still two Manitoba patients in intensive care units outside the province, both in Ontario.

Of the new cases reported Tuesday, 13 are in the Winnipeg health region, seven are in the Southern Health region, four are in the Northern Health Region and one is in the Prairie Mountain Health region. The Interlake-Eastern health region did not report any new cases Tuesday. 

Manitoba also reported 142 newly found cases and two more deaths linked to more contagious variants since the province's online dashboard was last updated on Saturday. Reporting of variant cases lags behind daily COVID-19 case counts because it takes longer to determine which variant a COVID-19 patient had.

Most of the new variant cases — 66 of the 142 — are of an unspecified variant. There are 43 new cases of the B.1.1.7 or alpha variant, 27 of the B.1617.2 or delta variant, and six new cases of the P1 variant.