Public health officials advise six new deaths in people with COVID-19 have been reported today:

a female in her 60s from the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region;
a female in her 70s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the B.1.1.7 variant of concern;
a female in her 80s from the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region, linked to the unspecified variant of concern;
a female in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region;
a male in his 90s from the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region, linked to the B.1.1.7 variant of concern; and
a female in her 90s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the B.1.1.7 variant of concern.
The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 11.5 per cent provincially and 12.9 per cent in Winnipeg. As of 9:30 a.m. today, 267 new cases of the virus have been identified. However, three cases have been removed due to data correction. This brings the net-new number of cases today to 264 and the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba to 51,580.

Today’s COVID-19 data shows:

14 cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region;
21 cases in the Northern health region.
six cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region;
28 cases in the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region; and
198 cases in the Winnipeg health region.
The data also shows:

4,267 active cases and 46,251 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19;
217 people in hospital with active COVID-19 as well as 77 people in hospital with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 294 hospitalizations;
48 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 as well as 21 people with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, for a total of 69 ICU patients;
2,646 laboratory tests were completed yesterday, bringing the total number of lab tests completed since early February 2020 to 775,237; and
the total number of deaths in people with COVID-19 is 1,062.
Public health officials are reminding Manitobans that in most cases, they should only seek testing at a provincial test site if they are symptomatic or have been advised by public health that they are a close contact. This will help ensure those who need to be tested can continue to access testing as easily as possible. Manitobans have several options available to access testing, including drive-thru and walk-in sites, or by booking an appointment by calling (toll-free) 1-855-268-4318 or online at select sites at www.gov.mb.ca/covid19/testing/locations.html#appointment.

Additional data on variants of concern is updated from Tuesday to Saturday at https://geoportal.gov.mb.ca/. Data related to COVID-19, outbreaks and some downloadable and historic data can also be found at this site.

Outbreaks have been declared at Seven Oaks General Hospital, 3U7 and the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre in Winnipeg. The facilities have been moved to the Critical (Red) level on the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System.

Possible exposure locations are listed online by region at the province’s #RestartMB Pandemic Response System webpage. For up-to-date information on possible public exposures to COVID-19 in regions, visit www.gov.mb.ca/covid19/updates/flights.html#event and click on your region.

With variant of concern (VOC) cases accounting for more than 50 per cent of all new COVID-19 cases, public health will no longer specifically notify people if their test screened or sequenced positive for any VOC. This will allow for the continuation of aggressive case and contact management overall as public health officials are treating every positive case as if they have a VOC. VOC data will continue to be reported on the dashboard and broken down by regional health authorities.

Updated enforcement statistics are posted online weekly. For more information, go to Cross-Departmental Reports at https://manitoba.ca/openmb/infomb/departments/index.html.

 

VACCINES

Eligibility for second doses has been expanded to include individuals who received their first dose on or before April 20. Additionally, all Indigenous people in Manitoba and individuals with specific health conditions are also eligible to book their second dose, as long as they meet the minimum time interval between doses. For more information, visit https://manitoba.ca/covid19/vaccine/eligibility-criteria.html#second-dose.

All people aged 12 and up are eligible to book their first-dose appointments.

Individuals can book online at https://protectmb.ca or by calling (toll-free) 1-844-MAN-VACC (1-844-626-8222). People will need to know the date they received their first dose and the type of vaccine received. This information can continue to be accessed at https://sharedhealthmb.ca/covid19/test-results/ or by calling a local public health office. A directory can be found www.gov.mb.ca/health/publichealth/offices.html. Note that vaccine appointments cannot be booked through public health offices.