WINNIPEG -- Manitoba health officials announced two new deaths linked to COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 937.
The deaths are two women in their 40s, one from the Northern Health Region and one from the Southern Health Region.
The province also added 59 new cases, bringing the total to 34,174 since March 2020.
Three new variant cases were also identified; all cases were found in the Winnipeg area.
Manitoba has had 270 variant cases – 235 B.1.1.7, 20 B.1.351, and 15 cases have not been categorized.
Of the new COVID cases, 32 are in Winnipeg, 16 are in the Northern Health Region, seven are in the Prairie Mountain Health Region, three are in the Southern Health Region, and one is in the Interlake-Eastern Health Region.
The five-day test positivity rate is 3.9 per cent in Manitoba and 3.6 per cent in Winnipeg.
Manitoba currently has 1,179 active cases and 32,058 people have recovered.
There are 65 people in hospital with active COVID-19, including 12 people in intensive care.
There are another 83 people in hospital who are no longer infectious but still require care, 18 of whom are in ICU.
The province also announced on Thursday that there are 11 people with COVID-19 variants hospitalized, and they range in age from people in their 20s to people in their 90s. All hospitalizations are in Winnipeg and are related to the B.1.1.7 variant.
On Wednesday, 1,561 tests were completed, bringing the total to 584,267 since February 2020.
Over the Easter weekend, the province will not be releasing a COVID-19 bulletin on Friday or Sunday. A bulletin listing new COVID-19 cases will be released Saturday and Monday. Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, will return on Tuesday to provide an update.
