5 COVID-19 deaths added Thursday in Manitoba; ICU cases up slightly
Manitoba has added another five deaths linked to COVID-19 on Thursday pushing the total to 1,668.
The province also saw COVID ICU cases climb up to 32, which is up from 29 on Wednesday.
However, overall COVID-19 hospital cases dipped to 524 with 222 of those patients still infectious.
David Matear, the health system co-lead of Manitoba's Unified Health Sector Incident Command, said even with cases up in the ICU, the overall trend over the last several weeks is positive.
"The number of COVID positive patients in ICU has declined by almost 16 per cent in the last week," said Matear. "Since Feb. 1, the number of COVID positive patients in ICU have improved by more than 40 per cent.
He said hospitals are still busy but improvements are being seen in key areas.
Manitoba added 319 new cases of COVID-19 and the active case count is 8,538.
The province has stressed that case counts are likely higher because at home rapid tests are not recorded in the total.
The five-day test positivity rate is 14 per cent.
On the vaccine front, 86.2 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received their first dose, 81.8 per cent are fully vaccinated and 43.5 per cent have received three doses.
CHANGES COMING TO WEEKLY NEWS CONFERENCES
Audrey Gordon, Manitoba's Health Minister, was asked on Thursday what will happen to the weekly news conferences that have been held throughout the Omicron wave, as health orders are loosened.
Gordon said news conferences will be held as, "deemed necessary" and noted updates may change in the next few weeks but bulletins will continue.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories

'There was a Nazi in the chamber': Tensions flare in the House over Speaker's recognition
Tensions flared in the House of Commons on Monday morning over opposition calls for House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota to resign after apologizing to the House of Commons for inviting, recognizing and leading the chamber in a standing ovation for a man who fought for a Nazi unit during the Second World War.
BREAKING U.K. police open sexual offences investigation after allegations about Russell Brand
British police have opened a sex crimes investigation triggered by news reports about comedian Russell Brand.
Canada travel advisory to India updated to include protests, 'negative sentiments'
Canada has updated its travel advisory for India to include warnings about protests and 'negative sentiments' towards Canadians in light of a recent breakdown in Canada-India relations.
We carry DNA from extinct cousins like Neanderthals. Science is now revealing their genetic legacy
Using the new and rapidly improving ability to piece together fragments of ancient DNA, scientists are finding that traits inherited from Neanderthals are still with us now, affecting our fertility, our immune systems, even how our bodies handled the COVID-19 virus.
Four in 10 child patients face unsafe spinal surgery wait times in Canada: report
Four out of ten child patients in Canada are facing unsafe spinal surgery wait times, which could cost the health-care system $44.6 million, according to a new report that was published Monday.
Toronto woman hospitalized overseas with botulism
A Toronto woman has been hospitalized in France with a severe case of botulism after eating improperly preserved sardines at a Bordeaux wine bar.
RCMP demolish last structure at Quebec's Roxham Road migrant crossing
The last RCMP building is coming down at Roxham Road, which became an unofficial border crossing used by more than 100,000 migrants crossing into Canada from Upstate New York to apply for asylum since 2017.
Thousands of Armenians flee Nagorno-Karabakh as Turkish president is set to visit Azerbaijan
Thousands of Armenians streamed out of Nagorno-Karabakh after the Azerbaijani military reclaimed full control of the breakaway region while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was set to visit Azerbaijan Monday in a show of support to its ally.
UN rights experts decry war crimes by Russia in Ukraine and look into genocide allegations
Independent UN-backed human rights experts said Monday they have turned up continued evidence of war crimes committed by Russian forces in their war against Ukraine, including torture -- some of it with such "brutality" that it led to death -- and rape of women aged up to 83 years old.