Manitoba records three new COVID-19 deaths, 147 cases on Wednesday

WINNIPEG -

Manitoba is nearing another grim milestone in the pandemic as the province recorded three new deaths related to COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total to 1,299.

Officials also identified 147 new cases. Of the new cases, 79 are unvaccinated, 64 are fully vaccinated and four are partially vaccinated.

The Southern Health Region had the majority of the new cases with 71, Winnipeg had 33 cases, 23 are from the Prairie Mountain Health Region, 12 are in the Northern Health Region and the Interlake-Eastern Health Region had eight cases.

The province has 1,537 active cases and Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate continues to sit at 5.9 per cent.

Manitoba has 153 people in hospital requiring care due to COVID-19, and 107 are still infectious. There are also 22 people in ICU, with 17 having active COVID-19.

Of the active hospital cases, 54 are not vaccinated, 48 are fully vaccinated and five have at least one dose.

In the ICU, 13 people are not vaccinated and four are fully vaccinated.

Another 2,710 tests were performed on Tuesday, bringing the total to 1,157,516 since February 2020.

PROVINCE TO STOP REPORTING VARIANT CASES

Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, said on Wednesday that the province will be changing some of its reporting moving forward.

After Nov. 26, health officials will no longer be reporting the variants of concern in Manitoba, with Roussin noting the Delta variant is driving the fourth wave.

"So about 98 per cent of COVID cases in Manitoba are Delta cases. So because of this dominance, there is no benefit clinically or from a public health perspective to report this information," said Roussin.

He said officials will still monitor for variants of concern and if there is a risk to the public more information will be shared at that point.