WINNIPEG -- For the first time in more than four months, there have been no daily deaths related to COVID-19 reported, though officials identified a new case of the B.1.1.7 variant in Manitoba.

In the daily bulletin released on Tuesday, the province said the total number of B.1.1.7. variant cases identified in Manitoba is now five.

A provincial spokesperson told CTV News the new variant case is from Winnipeg and is related to international travel.

The flights in January with links to variants of concern, which are posted online, include:

  • LH470 from Frankfurt to Toronto, rows 39-45, on January 19,2021
  • AC271 from Toronto to Winnipeg, rows 13- 19, on January 19, 2021
  • AC7513 from Ottawa to Toronto, rows 14-20, on January 26, 2021
  • AC 7265 from Toronto to Winnipeg, rows 14-20 on January 26, 2021
  • WJ526 from Calgary to Winnipeg, rows 10-16 on January 30, 2021

There were no deaths reported on Tuesday. The last time there was no daily deaths reported in Manitoba was on October 20, 2020.

The province reported 76 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, including:

  • seven cases in Interlake–Eastern health region;
  • 21 cases in the Northern health region;
  • one case in the Prairie Mountain Health region; and
  • 47 cases in the Winnipeg health region.
  • No cases were reported in the Southern Health region.

This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Manitoba to 31,551. However, eight cases were removed from the total due to a data correction.

The five-day test positivity rate dropped on Tuesday, hitting five per cent provincially (down from 5.4 per cent), and 4.3 per cent in Winnipeg (down from 4.4 per cent).

Of the 216 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Tuesday, the province said 131 people are no longer infectious but still require care. There were 33 people in intensive care with COVID-19 on Tuesday, which includes 21 people who are no longer infectious but still need critical care.

There have been 29,453 people who have recovered from COVID-19 in Manitoba. The number of active cases in the province sits at 1,212.

The province declared outbreaks at the St. Boniface Hospital unit A5 and Poseidon Care Centre in Winnipeg. Both sites are now in the critical or red level on the pandemic response system.

The outbreaks at the River East Personal Care Home and Deer Lodge Centre in Winnipeg, and the dialysis unit at St. Anthony’s General Hospital in The Pas, have been declared over.