276 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death reported in Manitoba on Saturday

There are 276 new COVID-19 cases in Manitoba on Saturday and one more person has died from the illness, the province said in a news release.

More than half the new cases are in the Winnipeg health region, which reported 159 infections and a five-day test positivity rate of 12.7 per cent — down from 13 on Friday.

Provincially, that rate rose slightly to 11.5 per cent, from 11.4 on Friday.

The rest of the new cases announced Saturday are split between the Southern Health region (54), the Interlake-Eastern health region (26), the Prairie Mountain Health region (22) and the Northern Health Region (15), the release said.

Manitoba's latest death linked to the illness was a woman in her 60s from the Prairie Mountain Health region who died after getting the more contagious B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant. Her death brings the province's total from COVID-19 to 1,072.

A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at Salem Home in Winkler, the release said.

There are now 333 Manitobans hospitalized after getting COVID-19, including 102 in intensive care units.

Sixty-three of those patients are still in hospitals across the province, while another 39 are in ICUs outside Manitoba: 36 in Ontario, one in Saskatchewan and two in Alberta, the release said.

A total of 14 Manitoba COVID-19 patients who were previously moved out of province for critical care have since been brought back, including one returned to Manitoba on Friday.

Manitoba has now identified 52,531 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began last year. To date, 47,345 people are considered to have recovered and 4,114 cases are still deemed active.