Public health officials advise seven new deaths in people with COVID-19 are being reported today:

a male in his 60s from the Southern Health-Sante Sud health region (reported Wednesday) linked to an unspecified variant of concern;
a male in his 80s from the Southern Health-Sante Sud health region (reported Wednesday) linked to the B.1.617.2 variant of concern;
a female in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region (reported Wednesday) linked to the unspecified variant of concern;
a male in his 40s from the Southern Health-Sante Sud health region (reported Thursday) linked to an unspecified variant of concern;
a female in her 60s from the Northern health region (reported Thursday) linked to the unspecified variant of concern;
a female in her 60s from the Northern health region (reported Thursday) linked to the unspecified variant of concern;
a female in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region (reported Thursday) linked to the unspecified variant of concern;

Today's five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 3.8 per cent provincially and 1.5 per cent in Winnipeg. As of 9:30 a.m. today, 319 new cases of the virus have been identified since Monday: 73 cases on Tuesday, Oct 26; 130 cases Wednesday, Oct 27 and 116 cases today. This includes:

11 cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region;
103 cases in the Northern health region;
44 cases in the Prairie Mountain health region;
110 cases in the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region; and
51 cases in the Winnipeg health region.

Fourteen cases have been removed due to data correction. The total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba is 63,212.

There were 116 new cases identified in Manitoba today. Of these, 78 are in individuals who were not fully vaccinated. This includes:

eight new cases with four not fully vaccinated in the Interlake-Eastern health region;
34 new cases with 20 not fully vaccinated in the Northern health region;
20 new cases with 10 not fully vaccinated in the Prairie Mountain health region;
46 new cases with 38 not fully vaccinated in the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region; and
eight new cases with six not fully vaccinated in the Winnipeg health region.

Today’s data also shows:

1,153 active cases and 60,815 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19;
82 Manitobans hospitalized with COVID-19 including 56 people with active COVID-19 as well as 26 people who are no longer infectious;
a total of 24 Manitoba patients receiving intensive care for COVID-19 including 19 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 as well as five people who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care;
3,656 laboratory tests were completed yesterday, bringing the total number of lab tests completed since early February 2020 to 1,082,323; and
the total number of deaths in people with COVID-19 is 1,244.

Outbreaks have been declared at the following facilities:

Ecole Saint-Malo School, Cohort 5/6 in St. Malo. The cohort has been moved to remote learning and the school has been moved to the Restricted (Orange) level on the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System; and
Portage Evangelical Church in Portage la Prairie. The church has been moved to the Critical (Red) level on the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System.

Manitobans are reminded that the new pan-Canadian proof of vaccination credential (PVC) is available digitally only. When requesting a PVC at https://immunizationcard.manitoba.ca, individuals should not request a physical Manitoba immunization card unless they do not yet have one, or have lost it. The physical card only shows the provincial QR code that should be used inside Manitoba, while the digital PVC includes a QR code that should be used for travel outside of the province. For more information, visit https://manitoba.ca/covid19/vaccine/immunizationrecord/residents.html.

The Manitoba government is also providing an update on ongoing enforcement efforts to protect Manitobans from the spread of COVID-19. A total of 38 warnings and 24 tickets were issued for the week of October 18 - 24, including:

one $1,296 ticket to an individual;
20 $298 tickets to individuals for failure to wear a mask in an indoor public place; and
three $5,000 tickets to businesses.

Manitobans are urged to continue reporting compliance and enforcement issues by visiting www.manitoba.ca/COVID19 and completing the reporting form, or by calling 204-945-3744 or (toll-free) 1-866-626-4862 and pressing option three on the call menu. Updated enforcement statistics are posted online weekly at: https://manitoba.ca/openmb/infomb/departments/index.html#cdr.

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.

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

For up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, including the online screening tool, testing criteria and locations, self-isolation requirements, public health fundamentals and the provincial response level on the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System, visit www.manitoba.ca/COVID19.