20 breakthrough cases in Manitoba, more than half of new COVID-19 cases unvaccinated

WINNIPEG -

While more than half of Manitoba's new COVID-19 cases are among the unvaccinated, the province reported 20 breakthrough infections.

On Thursday, Manitoba public health officials reported 64 new COVID-19 cases – including 36 unvaccinated cases and eight partially vaccinated cases. Twenty of the cases were among people who had been fully vaccinated.

"No vaccine is 100 per cent effective. However, people who are fully vaccinated typically have a better outcome than individuals who are not vaccinated," a spokesperson told CTV News in an emailed statement.

"Public health continues to recommend that the best defence against COVID-19 is to get immunized."

As of Thursday, 84 per cent of eligible Manitobans have rolled up their sleeve for at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Seventy-nine per cent of eligible Manitobans are vaccinated with two doses.

The spokesperson said while breakthrough cases can occur, the outcomes are typically not as severe as they are for non-vaccinated individuals. They said fully vaccinated people who get infected typically do not need to go to ICU.

As of Thursday, 62 people in Manitoba are in hospital with COVID-19, including 26 people who have active cases. Of those active cases, 20 are not vaccinated, four are partially vaccinated and two are fully vaccinated.

There are five people in the intensive care unit with active cases of COVID-19, all of whom are unvaccinated.

Data from the province obtained by CTV News shows there have been 728 infections and 16 deaths among the 915,200 people fully immunized in the province.

Of the 986,054 people who have been partially immunized in Manitoba, the data shows there have been 2,215 infections and 45 deaths.

 

The Southern Health region saw the most cases in the province on Thursday, with 23 new cases reported.

The Northern and Winnipeg health regions both reported 15 new cases. Winnipeg is sitting with a 1.2 per cent five-day test positivity rate.

The Prairie Mountain Health Region reported six new cases and the Interlake-Eastern health region reported five new cases.

The new cases bring Manitoba's total to 59,526, including 599 active cases and 57,724 recoveries. Seven cases were removed from the total due to data corrections.

The provincial five-day test positivity rate is now 2.5 per cent.

The province also released some details of two deaths that were announced on Wednesday – both of which were linked to variants of concern. The deaths include a woman in her 70s from the Interlake-Eastern health region, linked to the Delta variant, and a man in his 80s from Winnipeg linked to an unspecified variant.

The total number of people who have died with COVID-19 sits at 1,203, including 201 deaths that have been linked to variants of concern.

In total, Manitoba has linked 18,065 cases to variants. 370 variant cases are active, and 17,494 have recovered.

 

Variants of Concern in Manitoba
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