Four deaths linked to variant, more than 300 COVID-19 cases in Manitoba on Friday

WINNIPEG -

Four more deaths have been linked to a COVID-19 variant of concern in Manitoba.

On Friday, Manitoba public health reported the deaths of two women in their 70s and 80s from Winnipeg, a woman in her 70s from the Southern Health region, and a man in his 40s from the Interlake-Eastern region.

All the deaths have been linked to the B.1.1.7. variant of concern.

There have been 84 deaths linked to COVID-19 variants of concern in Manitoba. The total number of people who have died with COVID-19 in Manitoba is 1,071.

Along with the deaths, the province reported 329 new COVID-19 cases and a five-day test positivity rate of 11.4 per cent.

The majority of Friday's cases were in the Winnipeg region, which had 203 new cases. The region has 3,062 active cases, and a five-day test positivity rate of 13 per cent.

The other cases reported on Friday include:

• 38 cases in the Southern Health region, which has 328 active cases;
• 30 cases in the Northern health region, which has 245 active cases;
• 30 cases in the Interlake–Eastern health region, which has 294 active cases; and
• 28 cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region, which has 262 active cases.

The new cases bring Manitoba's total number of cases since March 2020 to 52,261, including 4,191 active cases and 46,999 recoveries. Three cases were removed from Manitoba's total due to a data correction.

The province said there were 293 people in hospital as of Friday who have, or are recovering from COVID-19. There were 65 COVID-19 patients in intensive care in Manitoba, as well as 41 ICU patients transported outside the province for care.

READ MORE: Dozens of Manitoba ICU patients receiving care out of province

This comes as the province declared a COVID-19 outbreak at Winnipeg's Health Science Centre, WRS3. The facility was moved to the red or critical level on the pandemic response system.

The province said 2,555 laboratory tests were completed on Thursday, bringing the total number of tests completed since early February 2020 to 781,287.