Man in his 30s among 13 new deaths reported in Manitoba on Sunday

There are 229 new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba on Sunday and 13 more people have died from the illness, including a man in his 30s, according to a provincial news release.

That brings the total number of deaths related to COVID-19 to 568, nearly half of them within the last three weeks.  

Ten of the new deaths were individuals from the Winnipeg health region, including a man in his 30s linked to the outbreak at St. Amant and a woman in her 40s.

The death was the first in St. Amant's Health & Transition Services linked to COVID-19, president and CEO John Leggat said in a statement posted on its website on Saturday.

Leggat said the man was in hospital for the past few weeks and was a previously announced case of the illness.

"We extend our sincere condolences to their family, friends, and the entire St.Amant Community. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers," the statement said.

A number of the deaths were linked to outbreaks, including:

• A woman in her 70s linked to an outbreak at Holy Family Home.
• A man in his 70s and a woman in her 90s linked to an outbreak at Charleswood Care Centre.
• A woman in her 80s linked to an outbreak in the GA3 unit at the Health Sciences Centre.
• A woman in her 80s linked to an outbreak at the Grandview Personal Care Home in Grandview.

A number of other people also died after testing positive for the virus, including a woman in her 50s from the Northern Health Region, a man in his 90s from the Southern Health Region, and in Winnipeg, two men in their 70s, and a man and woman in their 80s.

There are 302 people in hospital with COVID-19 who are considered infectious, including with 43 people in intensive care.

On Friday, there were a total of 378 people in hospital with the illness, including 305 considered infectious. There were 50 total cases in intensive care units Friday, with 43 still infectious.

Of the new cases, more than half (130) are in the Winnipeg health region. In addition, 39 are in the Southern Health region, 27 are in the Northern Health Region, 17 are in the Prairie Mountain Health Region and 16 are in the Interlake-Eastern health region.

This is the sixth time this week that Manitoba's daily increase in COVID-19 cases has been under 300. Public health officials announced 238 new cases on Saturday, and the province's daily case count jumped by 350 on Friday.

In Manitoba, the five-day test positivity rate — a rolling average of the number of tests that come back positive — is 12.2 per cent. That's the lowest it's been in more than a month.

On Nov. 14 and 15 that rate was 12.4 per cent, but it's been consistently at or above 13 per cent since then.

Winnipeg's test positivity rate is even lower at 11.4 per cent, which is also the lowest it's been in more than a month. On the same date in November, it was 13.6 per cent.

A new drive-thru testing site in the Interlake town of Arborg will open on Monday at 323 Sunset Blvd. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except for Tuesdays and Thursdays, when it will be open from noon to 8 p.m.