Manitoba identifies more than 70 new Delta variant cases Wednesday

WINNIPEG -

Manitoba reported 57 new COVID-19 cases along with one death, and has identified more than 70 cases of the Delta variant.

The provincial dashboard updated on Wednesday shows the new COVID-19 cases bring Manitoba's total to 58,759, including 495 active cases and 57,074 recoveries.

Of the 57 cases on Wednesday, the province told CTV News 45 of them were not fully vaccinated.

The new cases include 25 reported in the Southern Health region, 22 in the Winnipeg health region, five in the Prairie Mountain Health region and five in the Interlake-Eastern region. No cases were reported in the Northern health region.

Another person died with COVID-19 as of Wednesday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Manitoba during the pandemic to 1,190.

The province said it would provide more details about the death in the COVID-19 bulletin on Thursday.

The five-day test positivity rate in Manitoba is now at 2.9 per cent.

Of the 65 people in hospital with COVID-19, 22 have active cases. There are 12 people in intensive care with COVID-19, though only three cases are active; the remaining cases are no longer infectious but still need critical care.

According to the dashboard, the province also identified 76 new cases of the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) as of Wednesday, bringing the total number of Delta cases in Manitoba to 1,063.

The province also added four more cases to the Delta Plus variant (AY.3) which now accounts for 19 cases in Manitoba.

The bulk of Manitoba's variant of concern cases (8,770) have not been specified, while 7,235 cases have been identified as the Alpha variant. (B.1.1.7.).

Of Manitoba's 17,426 total variant of concern cases, 257 are considered active and 16,978 have recovered. There have been 191 deaths linked to variants of concern.