Manitoba reports 4 more COVID-19 deaths as hospital numbers drop slightly

Manitoba reports four more deaths related to COVID-19 on Friday and 656 people in hospital with the illness, down five from Thursday.

That number includes 41 people in intensive care units with COVID-19, a decrease of one.

ICU patients with COVID-19 made up 40 per cent of the patients receiving critical care in Manitoba. In total, there were 101 people in ICUs in Manitoba receiving care for COVID-19 and other conditions.

The provincial test positivity rate was at 22.5 per cent.

The four deaths reported Friday include a man in his 60s from the Southern Health region and a woman in her 80s from Winnipeg. A woman in her 90s from Winnipeg who died was connected to an outbreak at Tuxedo Villa personal care home, and the death of another Winnipeg woman in her 80s was linked to an outbreak at Victoria General Hospital.

Officials also said a death reported on Monday — a man in his 70s from the Interlake-Eastern health region — has been removed from provincial totals because it was not related to COVID-19.

So far, 1,619 people have died due to COVID-19 in Manitoba.

Outbreaks have been declared at St. Amant in Winnipeg, Fisher Personal Care Home in Fisher Branch and Ste. Rose General Hospital in Ste. Rose du Lac.

Previous outbreaks have been declared over at the following care homes:

• Charleswood Care Centre in Winnipeg.
• Deer Lodge Centre, Lodge 2 West, in Winnipeg.
• Grace General Hospital, 3 South, in Winnipeg.
• Lions Prairie Manor in Portage la Prairie.
• Eriksdale Personal Care Home in Eriksdale.

Manitoba also reported 673 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the provincial dashboard says. However, health officials have said for weeks that daily case counts significantly underestimate the true prevalence of COVID-19 in the community.

Manitoba significantly restricted eligibility to public PCR tests after the Omicron coronavirus variant surged, overwhelming testing capacity in late December. Most symptomatic Manitobans can now only access rapid tests, which can be picked up at public testing sites, but the province doesn't keep track of the results of those tests.

The update comes shortly after Manitoba's premier and chief public health officer announced the gradual end of most COVID-19 restrictions by mid-March.