Manitoba

88 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death reported in Manitoba

There are 88 new COVID-19 cases and an additional death reported in Manitoba on Friday.

Southern Health region and Winnipeg health region have most cases with 30 and 26, respectively

Manitoba has reported more than 59,600 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. (Jane Barlow/Getty Images)

There are 88 new COVID-19 cases and an additional death reported in Manitoba on Friday.

Among the latest cases, 53 are in unvaccinated people, while 12 people were partly vaccinated and 23 were fully vaccinated.

While some double-dosed people are getting COVID-19, most are not getting seriously ill.

Only five per cent of hospitalized Manitobans with active COVID-19 are fully vaccinated and none of them are intensive care patients, according to data from the province's COVID-19 dashboard.

The Southern Health region, which has the lowest vaccine uptake in the province, once again led the way with 30 of the latest cases, followed closely by the Winnipeg health region, with 26.

The Prairie Mountain Health region and Interlake-Eastern health region both have 14, while the Northern Health Region has four.

There are 72 people in hospital with COVID-19 — 37 with active cases and 35 who are no longer infectious. Among the 37 active cases, 73 per cent are unvaccinated, 22 per cent are partly vaccinated and just five per cent are fully vaccinated. (Government of Manitoba)

The latest data also shows a jump in hospitalizations. There were 62 people in hospital due to the coronavirus on Thursday, but on Friday there are 72 — 37 with active symptoms and 35 who are no longer infectious.

Among those in hospital, 13 people are in intensive care, an increase of one since Thursday.

Among the active cases in hospital, 73 per cent of the people are unvaccinated and 22 per cent were only partly vaccinated. Of those in ICU, 86 per cent are unvaccinated and the other 14 per cent were only partly vaccinated.

The number of people in Manitoba ICUs remains well above the province's pre-pandemic capacity of 72. As of midnight, there were 89 people (both COVID and non-COVID patients) in intensive care, a Shared Health spokesperson said in an email.

The Manitoba government no longer holds news conferences or sends news releases on Fridays to update case numbers. News releases are sent on Mondays and Thursdays.

Consequently, no information about the latest death — sex, age or health region — is available.

The total number of deaths in Manitoba due to COVID-19 is now 1,203, including 201 linked to coronavirus variants.

The province's five-day test positivity rate is 2.6 per cent, up slightly from 2.5 per cent on Thursday. No new information about the Winnipeg test positivity rate is provided on the COVID-19 dashboard. That rate was 1.2 per cent on Thursday.

There were 2,668 laboratory tests completed Thursday, bringing the total number since early February 2020 to 962,409.

Manitoba also reported 63 more COVID-19 cases have been linked to coronavirus variants of concern.

All but one are still listed as unspecified variants on the province's online variant dashboard. The lone one that has been newly classified is listed as belonging to the delta or B.1.617.2 strain.

Manitoba has now recorded 1,314 cases of delta. 

Of Manitoba's 629 currently active COVID-19 cases, 390 have been identified as one of the more contagious strains.