COVID-19 hospitalizations in Manitoba reach 517 with 18 more reported on Friday

Manitoba reported 18 new COVID-19 hospitalizations and five new deaths on Friday,according to the province's online dashboard.

The increase in hospitalizations pushes that total to 517, while the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units across the province decreased to 45 from 47 on Thursday.

The latest deaths, which bringthe total since the pandemic began to 1,443 in Manitoba, include three from the Winnipeg health region: a woman in her 60s, a woman in her 70s, and a man in his 80s.

TheSouthern Health region reported one death, a woman in her 90s, while the Interlake-Eastern health region also reported one, a woman in her 70s.

The province also released more information about nine deaths reported on Thursday. They include five from the Winnipeg region: A man in his 60s, a woman in her 70s, a woman in her 80s linked to an outbreak at Fred Douglas Lodge, and a man in his 80s linked to an outbreak at Poseidon Care Centre.

There were also three from the Interlake-Eastern health region a man in his 50s, a man in his 70s and a man in his 90s as well as a man in his 80s from the Southern Health region.

Manitoba added 1,215 new cases, bringing its total to 107,838. However, those statistics comewith the caveat that case numbers are significantly undercounted because many positive cases are not reported.

The province only counts positive PCR tests, but has severely restricted access to them, with most symptomatic people only doing self-administered rapid antigen tests, which are not tracked.

Of the latest reported cases, 516 are in theWinnipeg health region, 281 in the Northern health region, 223 in thePrairie Mountain Health region, 125in the Southern Health region and 70 in the Interlake-Eastern health region.

A breakdown of the latest cases by vaccination statuscan be viewed on a chart on the government website.

As of midnight, there were 102patients in Manitoba ICUs, a Shared Health spokesperson says. That is the combined total of bothCOVID and non-COVID patients.

The critical care program's normal, pre-COVID baseline capacity was 72 patients.

Outbreaks

New outbreaks have been declared at:

• Grace Hospital, 3 North, in Winnipeg.
• Health Sciences Centre, unit GA3, in Winnipeg.
• Calvary Place personal care home inWinnipeg.
• Park Manor personal care home inWinnipeg.
• Charleswood Care Centre personal care home inWinnipeg.
• Victoria General Hospital, 4 South, in Winnipeg.
• Luther Home, personal care home inWinnipeg.
• Children's Hospital, unit CK5, in Winnipeg.
• St. Claude Personal Care Home in St. Claude.
• Crocus Court Personal Care Home in Roblin.
• Villa Youville Inc. in Ste. Anne.
• Red River Place personal care home inSelkirk.

A previously announced outbreakis now over atChildren's Hospital, units CH4 and CH5, in Winnipeg.

As of Friday, 84.9 per cent of eligible Manitobanshave received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 78.1 per cent have had at least two and 33.4 per cent have had three, theprovincial vaccine dashboard says.

Eligibility for first and second dosesincludes anyone age five or older. Anyone 18 or older is eligible for a third dose, if there's been a long enough interval since they received their second dose.

The total number of doses administered in the province is now at 2,624,569, with 3,176 more scheduled to be given on Friday.