WINNIPEG -- Manitoba health officials have reported more than 250 COVID-19 cases, along with another death connected to an outbreak at a health centre.

On Thursday, public health announced a man in his 70s from the Prairie Mountain health region died from COVID-19. His death has been linked to an outbreak at the Russell Health Centre in Russell, Manitoba.

The province said this brings the total number of COVID-19 deaths to 962.

Along with this death, the province reported 261 new cases of COVID-19.

Of these cases, the Winnipeg region reported 159 cases, and has a five-day test positivity rate of 6.5 per cent. Winnipeg currently has 894 active cases of COVID-19 – the highest of any health region in the province.

The other cases reported on Thursday include:

  • 36 cases in the Northern Health Region, which has 450 active cases;
  • 31 cases in the Southern Health Region, which has 118 active cases;
  • 25 cases in the Interlake-Eastern Health Region, which has 106 active cases; and
  • 10 cases in the Prairie Mountain Health Region, which has 114 active cases.

The provincial five-day test positivity rate is at 6.4 per cent. The province said this brings the total number of cases in Manitoba so far in the pandemic to 36,890. Three cases were removed from the total due to a data correction. 

VARIANT CASES IN MANITOBA

The province identified 97 new variant of concern cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of variant cases in Manitoba to 901. Of these cases, 277 are considered active and 622 are considered recovered.

The majority of Manitoba's variant of concern cases is the B.1.1.7. variant, which has 727 cases as of Thursday. The B.1.351 variant has a total of 20 cases, and two cases have been linked to the P1 variant.

152 variant cases are not specified.

CASE REVIEWS LOWER ACTIVE CASES IN MANITOBA

The province said ongoing case reviews have moved 910 cases previously listed as active to recovered. As of Thursday, the province said 1,682 cases are considered active, and 34,246 cases are considered recovered.

There were 145 people with COVID-19 in hospital as of Thursday, including 76 people with active cases and 69 people who are no longer infectious. The province said there were 35 ICU patients with COVID-19, including 21 who are active and 14 who are no longer infectious but still need critical care.

The province said the outbreaks at the Dauphin Personal Care Home in Dauphin, and the Fairview Personal Care Home in Brandon were declared over on Thursday.

The province said there were 3,427 tests completed on Wednesday, bringing the total number of tests completed since early February 2020 to 633,974.