WINNIPEG -- The COVID-19 death toll in Manitoba continues to climb, with three more people reported dead as of Monday morning.

Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, reported two deaths in the Southern Health Region, including a man in his 70s and a man in his 90s.

Roussin also reported the death of a woman in her 80s in the Winnipeg region. Her death has been linked to the outbreak at the Victoria General Hospital.

The reported deaths add to a growing list in the province, with 109 Manitobans now dead due to the virus. There has been at least one COVID-19 death reported in Manitoba for the past 20 consecutive days.

Health officials also announced 365 new cases of COVID-19, which bring Manitoba’s five-day test-positivity rate to 9.3 per cent.

The new cases announced on Monday include:

  • 16 cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region;
  • 16 cases in the Northern health region;
  • nine cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region;
  • 91 cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region; and
  • 233 cases in the Winnipeg health region.

Since March, there have been 8,495 cases of COVID-19 in Manitoba. Roussin said in one week, the province has seen more than 2,000 cases of the virus.

The majority of the cases are in the Winnipeg region, which has had 5,414 cases reported since March. The province said the five-day test positivity rate in Winnipeg is 9.3 per cent.

As of Monday, 192 people were in hospital with 28 people in intensive care. The province has reported 3,234 people in Manitoba have recovered from COVID-19.

Roussin said the COVID-19 cases have been trending in the wrong direction and are leading to increased demand on the health care system.

He said Manitobans have a responsibility to protect those who are vulnerable to COVID-19.

“It all comes down to reducing our contacts. We need to reduce our contacts outside our household,” he said.

“That means staying home for the most part, leaving for essential purposes, and if possible having only one member of the house go for essential purposes.”

The province said it completed 3,143 tests on Sunday, which brings the total number of lab tests done since early February to 288,568.