Manitoba is now "clearly at the beginning of the fourth wave of COVID-19 cases," stated public health officials in today's COVID-19 bulletin. As a result, officials are reminding Manitobans to continue to practice the fundamentals, reduce the number of close contacts and to get immunized as soon as possible.

Two new deaths in people with COVID-19 are being reported today:

a male in his 40s from the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region (reported Sunday); and
a male in his 60s from the Winnipeg health region (reported Sunday).

Today's five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 2.7 per cent provincially and 1.2 per cent in Winnipeg. As of 9:30 a.m. today, 366 new cases of the virus have been identified since Thursday: 60 cases on Fri., Sept. 24; 100 cases on Sat., Sept. 25; 113 cases on Sun. Sept. 26; and 93 cases today.

This includes:

28 cases in the Interlake–Eastern health region;
25 cases in the Northern health region;
55 cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region;
150 cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region; and
108 cases in the Winnipeg health region.

Nine cases have been removed due to data correction, bringing the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba to 60,294.

There were 93 new cases identified in Manitoba today. Of these, 67 are in individuals who were not fully vaccinated.

This includes:

seven new cases, with six not fully vaccinated, in the Interlake–Eastern health region;
eight new cases, with six not fully vaccinated, in the Northern health region;
seven new cases, with four not fully vaccinated, in the Prairie Mountain Health region;
46 new cases, with 41 not fully vaccinated, in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region; and
25 new cases, with 10 not fully vaccinated, in the Winnipeg health region.

Today’s data also shows:

646 active cases and 58,439 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19;
77 Manitobans hospitalized with COVID-19 including 43 people with active COVID-19 as well as 34 people who are no longer infectious;
a total of 19 Manitoba patients receiving intensive care for COVID-19 including 14 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;
2,480 laboratory tests were completed yesterday, bringing the total number of lab tests completed since early February 2020 to 993,150; and
the total number of deaths in people with COVID-19 is 1,209.

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#eventand 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.