Three COVID-19 deaths linked to variant

Manitoba’s daily COVID-19 case counts continue to improve on Tuesday, with just 69 new cases of COVID-19 announced.

Seven previously announced cases were removed due to a data correction, leading to a net increase of 62 cases.

Four new deaths were announced: a man in his 20s from the Interlake-Eastern health region, a man in his 60s from Southern Health and two women in their 70s from Winnipeg. Three of the four deaths are linked to the B.1.1.7 Alpha variant of the virus.

Manitoba’s five-day test positivity rate has declined to 7.6 per cent provincially and 6.6 per cent in Winnipeg.

The outbreak at the Dauphin River Health Centre in Dauphin has been declared over.

As of Monday, the province has added information regarding the transmission of COVID-19 to its weekly provincial respiratory surveillance reports.

In the most recent update, covering the week of June 6-12, these were the top five transmission settings for the virus:

• Households: 61.5 per cent

• Social gatherings: 11.7 per cent

• Workplace: 10.3 per cent

• Transportation: 4.6 per cent

• School: 3.5 per cent

In cases where there was an unknown source of infection, these were the top five acquisition settings:

• Households: 29.2 per cent

• Workplaces: 16.8 per cent

• Retail: 10.9 per cent

• Social gatherings: 6.4 per cent

• School: four per cent

Here’s how Monday’s cases broke down by health region:

• Four cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region;

• 15 cases in the Northern health region;

• One case in Prairie Mountain Health;

• 16 cases in Southern Health-Santé Sud;

• 33 cases in Winnipeg.

There are 1,860 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 52,478 people who have recovered from the virus. The total number of deaths linked to COVID-19 in Manitoba is 1,129.

There are currently 123 people in hospital with active COVID-19 as well as 87 people in hospital with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 210 hospitalizations.

There are 34 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19, as well as 23 people with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, for a total of 57 intensive care patients due to COVID-19 in the province.

A total of 14 ICU patients from Manitoba are being treated in hospitals elsewhere in Canada: 13 in Ontario and one in Alberta.

Thirty-three patients have been returned to Manitoba after receiving care outside the province.

There are currently 135 active cases of COVID-19 in Prairie Mountain Health. Four people are hospitalized with active cases of COVID-19, with a further nine cases who are no longer infectious, for a total of 13 hospitalizations.

The region also has two active intensive care patients, with another who is no longer infectious, for a total of three people in intensive care units due to COVID-19.

Brandon has 13 active cases of COVID-19, with 24 people having died and 1,411 people who have recovered.

There were 1,243 laboratory tests completed Sunday, bringing the total number of lab tests completed since early February 2020 to 817,797.

Prairie Mountain Health announced late Tuesday that today’s Moderna walk-in clinic at the Brandon supersite has been cancelled.