3 more deaths, 26 new COVID-19 cases in Manitoba Wednesday

Manitoba is reporting 26 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday and three more deaths from the illness, a provincial news release says.

Of thesenew cases, most are in the Interlake-Eastern health region, which reported 15 new cases. There are also six new cases in the Winnipeg health region, three in the Southern Health region and two in the Prairie Mountain Health region.

No new cases were reported in the Northern Health Region.

There are now 497 active cases in the province and 55,830 people have recovered from COVID-19, the province's news release said.

The three latest deaths from COVID-19 were all connected witha more contagious coronavirus variant awoman in her 50sfrom the Interlake-Eastern health region, linked to the alpha (B.1.1.7) variant, a woman in her 70s from the Northern Health Region linked to the alpha variantand a man in his 80s from the Southern Health region linked to an unspecified variant.

The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the province is now 1,175.

The five-day test provincial test positivity rate has dropped to 2.5 per cent, down from2.8 per cent Tuesday and the lowest ratesince Oct. 7 of last year, when itwas 2.4 per cent.

In Winnipeg, the rate is down slightly to 1.3 per cent, from 1.4 per centthe day before.

The province says 1,487 lab tests for COVID-19 were done on Tuesday.

There are now 104 COVID-19 patients in hospital, the province said, down from 107 on Tuesday.

Of those, 30 patients are in intensive care units in Manitoba, up by three.

The province also reported eight more cases now linked to more contagious coronavirus variants, according to Manitoba'sonline variant dashboard. There are 304 active cases across the province involving variants of concern.

The rapid spread of COVID-19 casesbecause of the more contagious delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, is raising concerns in Alberta, where vaccination rates are lower than Manitoba's.

As of Wednesday, 79.1 per cent of eligible Manitobans have one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and67.8 per cent have two, the province's online vaccine dashboard says.

Officials still believe enough Manitobans will get their first or second doses ahead of Labour Day weekend in September to trigger the next round of reopenings, relaxed capacity rules and guidelines around gatherings.

The September goal is tied to seeing 80 per cent of eligible Manitobans vaccinated withtheir first dose and 75 with asecond dose.

WATCH | Full news conference on COVID-19 | July 28, 2021:

Manitoba government daily briefing on coronavirus: July 28

3 years ago

Duration 1:00:11

Provincial officials give update on COVID-19 outbreak: Wednesday, July 28, 2021.