128 new COVID-19 cases, 2 deaths reported in Manitoba Wednesday

There are 128 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths in Manitoba on Wednesday, the provincial coronavirus data website says.

That brings the number of people who have died from the illness in the province to 1,251. 

Public health officials gave an update Wednesday afternoon on COVID-19 in Manitoba and the province's vaccination efforts as case numbers continue to rise — a trend that is expected to continue in the immediate future, Manitoba's deputy chief public health officer said.

The Winnipeg health region has highest number of new cases Wednesday, with 40. 

The Northern Health region has the next highest number with 33, followed by the Southern Health region with 29, the Prairie Mountain Health region with 17, and the Interlake-Eastern health region with nine.

The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 is up again, to 106 patients on Wednesday. That includes 23 people in intensive care. 

The total number of people in hospital passed 100 for the first time since late July on Tuesday, when there were 104 COVID-19 patients in hospital.

Cases expected to continue climbing

The seven-day average daily case count in Manitoba is now at 122, the highest it's been since last June. 

Manitoba has seen a close to 10 per cent increase in cases each week for the last five weeks, Dr. Jazz Atwal, the province's deputy chief public health officer, said during a news conference Wednesday. 

That trend is expected to continue for at least a couple more weeks, he said. 

Atwal says health officials are currently evaluating how much that will impact the acute care system, and whether more restrictions may be needed. 

"A lot of work is being done on that on an ongoing basis," he said. "When further information is available in relation to 'are more restrictions required or not?' that would be provided to everyone."

The five-day test positivity rate in Manitoba is 4.9 per cent, down slightly from five the day before. 

The province will start providing regional five-day test positivity rates on Friday, Atwal said. 

Of the new cases announced Wednesday, 75 were in people who were not vaccinated at all, five were in people only partly vaccinated and 48 were in fully vaccinated people. 

As of Wednesday, 87 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine and 83.9 per cent have both, the provincial vaccine dashboard says.

The province also identified 34 more cases of variants of concern on its online variant dashboard.

Almost all were of an unspecified variant, while two were listed as the B.1.617.2, or delta, variant.

On Tuesday, the province announced 127 new COVID-19 cases and one death.