There are 81 new COVID-19 cases — the majority of them in the north and Winnipeg area — and no new deaths on Wednesday, Manitoba public health officials say.

The provincial test positivity rate decreased to 4.6 per cent, down from 5.3 per cent on Tuesday.

The number of people in hospital due to COVID-19 also dropped from 142 on Tuesday to 138 Wednesday. Twenty-seven patients are in intensive care, up from 25 on Tuesday.

The news comes as members of Manitoba's vaccine task force announced they will pause expanding vaccine eligibility criteria as appointment capacity has reached its limit. For now, anyone 65 and older and First Nations people 45 and older remain eligible.

So far, over 146,000 vaccine doses have been doled out, and 9.2 per cent of eligible Manitobans over the age of 18 have received at least one dose.

Outbreaks have been declared at the Grace Hospital's Unit 3 South, CN Rail at 821 Lagimodiere Blvd., and MD Practice Solutions of Manitoba at 100-204 Fort St.

There are no new confirmed cases of highly contagious coronavirus variants of concern, leaving the total to date at 77.

Of the new cases announced Wednesday, 37 are in the Northern Health Region and 35 in the Winnipeg health region. Another four cases are in the Prairie Mountain Health region, three in Southern Health and two in the Interlake-Eastern health region.

There have been over 31,400 cases since the pandemic began just over a year ago, and 1,261 of those cases remain active.

There were 2,458 tests done on Tuesday, bringing the total to nearly 569,000.

To date, 929 Manitobans have died due to COVID-19.

The number of daily hospitalizations and deaths have declined considerably since fall and winter amid widespread provincial health restrictions and closures.

The province has gradually relaxed a series of restrictions since January as cases, test positivity and hospitalizations declined, but in recent weeks, those numbers have started to creep upward again.

As of Friday at 12:01 a.m. CT, outdoor gathering size limits at public places and limits on funerals and weddings will increase to 25, up from the current capacity of 10. Retail stores will be allowed to have up to 500 people, up from 250, or 50 per cent capacity, whichever is lower.

Manitoba remains under code red, or critical, under its pandemic response system.