WINNIPEG -- Twelve more deaths linked to COVID-19 were reported in Manitoba Thursday afternoon.

Dr. Brent Roussin, the province's chief provincial public health officer, made the announcement at the daily media briefing.

Five of the 12 deaths are from the Winnipeg area, including two people linked to the Golden Links Lodge outbreak, a man in his 70s and a man in his 90s. Three women from Winnipeg, one in her 80s and two in their 90s, also died. One of the women in their 90s was connected to the Maples care home outbreak.

The other deaths include a man in his 30s from the Interlake-Eastern Health Region, a man in his 50s from the Northern Health Region, and five people from the Southern Health Region. Two of the Southern Health deaths are linked to the Menno Home outbreak and are a man in his 50s and a woman in her 90s. The deaths also include two women in their 70s, with one death from the Fernwood Place outbreak, as well as a man in his 90s.

The death toll now sits at 353 and officials noted that one previously announced death was removed due to a data error. Roussin said the case was a woman in her 60s from the Winnipeg area. He said she is currently recovering.

The death error announced is the second time a situation like this has happened and Roussin was asked if there are steps in place to prevent such a mistake from happening.

"We review these things and obviously we were able to correct it. So we have processes in place to reduce the amount of errors that we see and also to be able to go back and correct them as we find them," said Roussin.

He noted the reports are coming out very quickly and sometimes that will lead to errors.

Manitoba also has 368 new cases bringing the total to 17,750. One previous case was also removed due to a data error.

The test positivity rate sits at 13.1 per cent in Manitoba and 14.9 per cent in Winnipeg.

The new cases include 211 from the Winnipeg Health Region, 57 from the Southern Health Region, 48 in the Northern Health Region, 31 in the Prairie Mountain Health Region, and 21 cases in the Interlake-Eastern Health Region.

Manitoba has 9,129 active cases and 8,268 people have recovered from COVID-19.

There are 357 people in hospital, 52 of which are in intensive care.

On Wednesday, 2,913 tests were completed bringing the total to 362,973 since early February.

Roussin briefly touched on the test positivity rate in Winnipeg that has seen a steady climb over the last few days. He said while the number is too high right now, it isn't the only number to look at and noted it can fluctuate day-to-day.

Roussin once again reiterated the message to Manitobans that he has tried to hammer home since the new restrictions first came into place; stay home and reduce your contacts.

"We need to work together to continue to bring down these numbers," he said.