COVID-19: 476 new cases, 6 deaths Saturday

476 new cases of COVID-19 were announced Saturday morning.

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

• A male in his 50s from the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region, linked to the B.1.1.7 variant of concern.
• A female in her 30s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the B.1.1.7 variant of concern.
• A male in his 60s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to an unspecified variant of concern.
• A male in his 70s from the Winnipeg health region.
• A male in his 70s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the B.1.1.7 variant of concern.
• A female in her 70s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the P.1 variant of concern.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 14.3 per cent provincially. Three cases have been removed due to data correction, bringing the net-new number of cases today to 473 and the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba to 47,977.

Of those 476 new cases, 4 are in Steinbach, 4 are in Hanover, 1 is in the Ste. Anne/La Broquerie Health District, 7 are in Tache, 6 are in the Niverville/Ritchot Health District, and two in the St. Pierre/De Salaberry Health District.

Today’s COVID-19 data shows:

• 24 cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region.
• 26 cases in the Northern health region.
• 22 cases in the Prairie Mountain health region.
• 44 cases in the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region.
• 360 cases in the Winnipeg health region.

The data also shows:

• 4,984 active cases and 41,965 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.
• 241 people in hospital with active COVID-19 as well as 57 people in hospital with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 298 hospitalizations.
• 53 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 74 ICU patients.
• 3,557 laboratory tests were completed yesterday, bringing the total number of lab tests completed since early February 2020 to 743,131.
• The total number of deaths in people with COVID-19 is 1,028.

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 that those who need to be tested can continue to access testing as easily as possible.