10 more COVID-19 deaths announced in Manitoba Saturday, including man in his 30s

There are 387 new cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba on Saturday, the province says in a news release, and 10 more people with the illness have died.

There are now 276 people hospitalized with the illness in Manitoba, down slightly from a record 281 in hospital on Friday. Of those, 45 are in intensive care, which marks a new high in the province.

The people whose deaths were announced Saturday include several linked to outbreaks across the province, and a Winnipeg man in his 30s — one of the province's youngest to succumb to the illness.

Also among the latest fatalities are a woman in her 70s linked to the Parkview Place Long Term Care Home, a man in his 70s linked to the Misericordia Health Centre's transitional care unit, a woman in her 80s linked to the Bridgepark Manor assisted living facility, a man in his 80s linked to the Holy Family Home and a woman in her 100s linked to the Gilbert Plains personal care home. Also included are a woman in her 80s and a man in his 90s linked to the Maples Long Term Care Home.

The deaths also include three other men not linked to any outbreaks: one in his 60s from the Northern Health region and one in his 70s from the Winnipeg health region, bringing Manitoba's coronavirus-linked death toll to 217.

The update comes one day after Manitoba surpassed 200 deaths linked to the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. 

The province also declared seven more outbreaks across Manitoba. These sites have all been moved to the critical, or red, level of the province's pandemic response system:

• Unit 3 North at Grace Hospital in Winnipeg.
• Dakota House in Winnipeg.
• Eastview Place in Altona.
• Tabor Home in Morden.
• Fernwood Place in Steinbach.
• Lions Prairie Manor in Portage la Prairie.
• Douglas Campbell Lodge in Portage la Prairie.

Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate is up slightly to 13.8 per cent, while Winnipeg's is down to 13.6 per cent.

To date, 5,075 people have recovered from COVID-19 in Manitoba, the release says, and 8,012 cases are still considered active — though public health officials have said this number is inflated due to a data entry backlog.

The cases announced Saturday include 218 in the Winnipeg health region, 94 in the Southern Health region, 34 in the Northern Health region, 26 in the Interlake-Eastern health region and 15 in the Prairie Mountain Health region, the release says.

Two previously announced COVID-19 cases were removed due to error, the release says, bringing the total number of cases identified in the province to 13,304.

Saturday is also the start of the first weekend under a new set of restrictions introduced in Manitoba that ban the sale of non-essential goods in stores (though people can still buy those items for delivery or curbside pickup).

The new rules also outlaw almost all visitors to homes, with a few exceptions.

Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin sounded the alarm about the spread of COVID-19 in Manitoba's Southern Health region at a news conference on Friday.

The test positivity rate — a rolling average of the COVID-19 tests that come back positive — in the Steinbach health district was 40 per cent when measured over the previous 10 days, he said.

That part of the province also accounts for nearly 12 per cent of Manitoba's coronavirus-linked deaths, Roussin said. And with a population of just over 21,000, the Steinbach health district has one of the highest per capita COVID-19 rates in the country.

There were another 2,519 COVID-19 tests done in Manitoba on Friday, bringing the total completed in the province since early February to 327,511, the release says.