COVID-19 hospitalizations hit 297 in Manitoba, cases reach a new high on Friday

The number of Manitobans in hospital with COVID-19 continues to rise, as the province once again recorded a new high of more than 3,200 daily cases.

Thirty-four more Manitobans were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Friday, bringing the total number of people in hospital with COVID-19 to 297. Of those hospitalized, 257 people have active cases.

There are 34 people in the intensive care unit with COVID-19, 33 of those people dealing with active cases.

The province also reported 3,265 new cases on Friday, though provincial health officials have previously said the number of daily cases may be higher than reported due to increased wait times for COVID-19 tests and test results in the province.

The province said of the cases reported on Friday, 588 are not fully vaccinated.

The new cases include:

• 2,168 cases (337 not fully vaccinated) in the Winnipeg Health Region, which has 170 total COVID-19 hospitalizations;
• 378 cases (81 not fully vaccinated) in the Southern Health Region, which has 53 total COVID-19 hospitalizations;
• 285 cases (63 not fully vaccinated) in the Prairie Mountain Health Region, which has 37 total COVID-19 hospitalizations;
• 170 cases (52 not fully vaccinated) in the Northern Health Region, which has 16 total COVID-19 hospitalizations; and
• 264 cases (55 not fully vaccinated) in the Interlake-Eastern Health Region, which has 21 total COVID-19 hospitalizations.

The new cases bring Manitoba's total number of cases in the pandemic to 94,850, including 24,595 active cases and 68,847 recoveries. Eleven cases were removed from the total due to a data correction.

The province has reported a five-day test positivity rate of 44.4 per cent and 52.6 per cent in Winnipeg. The test positivity rates are higher in part due to targeted laboratory testing.

There were 5,389 laboratory tests completed on Thursday.

As of Friday, 84.5 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The province said 77.9 per cent of those eligible have received two doses and 28.3 per cent have received three doses. More than 2.5 million doses have been administered in Manitoba so far.

No deaths were reported on Friday, leaving the total number of Manitobans who have died with COVID-19 in this pandemic at 1,408.

The province did provide details on six deaths reported on Thursday.

One of the deaths, a man in his 60s from the Southern Health region, has been linked to the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant of concern.

The other deaths reported on Thursday include two men in their 50s from the Interlake-Eastern health region, one of which was linked to an unspecified variant of concern; a man in his 60s from the Southern Health region; and a man and woman in their 80s from the Winnipeg health region.