7 COVID-19 deaths reported in Manitoba on Friday as hospitalizations drop 11

Manitoba reported seven COVID-19 deaths and 11 fewer hospitalizations ina news release on Friday.

There are now 513 people in Manitoba hospitals with COVID-19, a drop of more than 100 in just over aweek.

The hospitalization number includes 29 peoplein intensive care units, which is a decrease ofthree from Thursday.

The latest deaths were six people from theWinnipeg health region and one from thePrairie Mountain Health region.

Those in Winnipeg are a woman and man in their 60s, a woman in her 70s, a woman and man in their 80s, and a man in his 90slinked to an outbreak at Tuxedo Villa personal care home.

The death in Prairie Mountain was a woman in her 40s.

The province also released more information about deaths first reported Thursday. There were from the Winnipeg health region: a man in his 70s, a woman in her 90s and a man in his 80s who is linkedto an outbreak at Health Sciences Centre.

The other was a woman in her 90s from the Prairie Mountain Health region.

The total number of people in Manitoba who have died due toCOVID-19 since the pandemic started is now 1,675.

The province also reported 313 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the pandemic total to130,277. However, health officials have repeatedly said those numbers are a significant undercount of the total number of active cases.

Manitoba isstrictly restricting access to PCR tests at provincial sitesand does not track most rapid test results.

Of the new cases, 108are in the Winnipeg health region, 73 in the Northern Health Region, 70 in thePrairie Mountain Health region, 33in the Interlake-Eastern health regionand29in the Southern Health region.

A recent breakdown of cases by vaccination statuscan be viewed on an interactive chart on the government website.

As of midnight, there were 100 adult patients those receiving both COVID and non-COVID care in Manitoba ICUs. That's an increase of seven from Wednesday.

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

Manitoba's five-day test-positivity rate slightly increased to 14.8 per cent on Friday, from 14 per cent on Thursday, the COVID-19 bulletin says.

Starting next week, provincial COVID-19bulletins will be issued only on Thursdays. They have been released three times a weekfor the past several months, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Daily data is released each weekdayonthe province's online dashboard.

New outbreaks have been declared at Actionmarguerite St. Vital (Winnipeg),Calvary Place (Winnipeg), Dr. Gendreau Personal Care Home (Ste. Rose du Lac) andWestview Lodge (Boissevain), the province said.

Outbreaks have been declared over at:

• Actionmarguerite St. Boniface inWinnipeg.
• Calvary Place inWinnipeg
• Concordia Hospital, N3 East, in Winnipeg.
• River Park Gardens inWinnipeg.
• Beacon Hill Lodge inWinnipeg.
• Meadowood Manor inWinnipeg.
• Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre inWinnipeg.
• Glenboro Personal Care Home inGlenboro.

In a quirk oftiming, oneoutbreak atCalvary Place personal care home inWinnipeg ended just as another started, a provincial spokesperson said,so it appears in both lists.

As of Friday, 86.2 per cent of eligible Manitobans have at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, 81.9 per cent have two doses and 43.6 per cent have received their third shot, the provincial vaccine dashboard says.

The total number of doses administered in the province is now 2,830,568, with 547 scheduled to be given on Friday.

The last appointments at the regional vaccine site in Dauphin are scheduled for March 2. The region will continue to offer pop-up clinics after that time to support vaccine access, the province said.