WINNIPEG -- The B.1.1.7. variant has been linked to the death of another Manitoban, as the province reports more than 60 new variant cases, and daily COVID-19 cases once again in the triple digits.

On Tuesday, the province said a man in his 60s from Winnipeg has died with COVID-19. His death has been linked to the B.1.1.7. variant, which was first discovered in the U.K. There have been two deaths in Manitoba linked to a variant.

The province said it is also reporting the first variant of concern case in Northern Manitoba. The variant case is unspecified.

 

According to the provincial dashboard, there were 67 new variant of concern cases reported as of Tuesday. These cases bring the total to 479 variant cases in Manitoba, including 154 active cases and 323 recovered cases.

The majority of Manitoba's variant of concern cases have been identified as the B.1.1.7. variant (426 cases), while the B.1.351 variant which was first identified in South Africa accounts for 20 cases, and 33 variant cases are unspecified.

Along with the variant death, the province reported the death of a man in his 80s from Winnipeg on Tuesday. His death has been linked to the outbreak at the Holy Family Home.

This brings the total number of people who have died with COVID-19 in Manitoba to 951.

For the past six days, the province has reported COVID-19 cases in the triple digits – that trend continued on Tuesday with 135 new cases.

Winnipeg saw the highest number of daily cases, with 89 cases reported on Tuesday. These cases raised Winnipeg's five-day test positivity rate to 5.7 per cent.

The other cases reported on Tuesday include:

  • 34 cases in the Northern health region;
  • five cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region;
  • five cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region; and
  • two cases in the Interlake–Eastern health region.
 

Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate dropped to six per cent on Tuesday.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Manitoba since the beginning of the pandemic is 35,459, which includes 1,438 active cases and 33,070 recovered cases.

Three cases were removed from the total due to a data correction. 

The province said there were 138 people with COVID-19 in hospital on Tuesday, including 62 people with active cases and 76 people who are no longer infectious. There were 33 people with COVID-19 in intensive care, including 14 people with active cases and 19 people who are no longer infectious but still need critical care.

There were 1,955 tests done on Monday, bringing the total number of tests completed since early February 2020 to 608,345.

The province declared an outbreak at the Fairview Personal Care Home in Brandon, and has moved the care home to the critical or red level on the pandemic response system.