Nine new COVID-19 deaths in Manitoba reported since Friday

WINNIPEG -

Manitoba health officials announced nine deaths linked to COVID-19 on Tuesday, dating back to Friday.

Two of the deaths happened on Friday, both in the Southern Health Region. The province said one was a man in his 60s linked to an unspecified variant and the second was a man in his 80s.

Three deaths were reported Saturday, two in Southern Health - a man in his 50s and a man in his 70s, both linked to an unspecified variant.

The third death was a man in his 70s in Winnipeg, also linked to an unspecified variant.

Two more deaths were recorded on Sunday - a man in his 50s from the Northern Health Region and a woman in her 60s in Southern Health, which was connected to an unspecified variant.

The final two deaths happened on Tuesday, both in Southern Health. They were a man in his 70s and a man in his 80s, both connected to an unspecified variant.

This brings the province's death toll to 1,224 since the start of the pandemic.

Officials also said 479 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified since Friday, 66 of these cases were recorded Tuesday.

Since Friday, the Southern Health Region had the most new cases with 161.

Of the 66 new cases reported on Tuesday, 24 were recorded in Southern Health. Winnipeg also recorded 24 cases that day. Sixteen of the Southern Health cases were not fully vaccinated, while 10 were not fully vaccinated in Winnipeg.

Eight cases were identified in the Prairie Mountain Health Region, six of which were not fully vaccinated.

Seven cases were reported from the Northern Health Region, with six of those cases in people who were not fully vaccinated. In the Interlake-Eastern Health Region, three new cases were recorded, one of whom was not fully vaccinated.

Of Tuesday's cases, 34 were among the unvaccinated, eight were partially vaccinated and 24 were fully vaccinated.

There are currently 928 active cases and the five day test positivity rate is 3.9 per cent provincially. In Winnipeg, it is 1.2 per cent.

Officials noted 15 previously announced cases were removed due to a data correction and there has been 61,721 cases since March 2020.

There are 85 Manitobans in hospital due to COVID-19, 48 of those people are infectious. In ICU, there are 16 patients, 11 of which have active COVID-19.

Of the active hospitalizations, 31 are unvaccinated, two are partially vaccinated and 15 are fully vaccinated.

In the ICU, nine cases are unvaccinated, one is partially vaccinated and one is fully vaccinated.

On Monday, 1,920 tests were completed, bringing the total to 1,037,630 since February 2020.