7 deaths, 145 COVID-19 cases identified in Manitoba as delta variant spreads to all regions

The delta coronavirus variant has spread to all five of Manitoba's health regions, the province's deputy chiefpublic health officer said Friday.

Dr. Jazz Atwalsaid 40 per centof Manitoba'scases of the B.1.617.2 varianthave been in the Winnipeg health region, with another 29 per cent in the Southern Health region and 24 per centin the Northern Health Region.

That variant first seen in India is the onethe head of the World Health Organization saidwas the most transmissible of those identified so far.

Manitoba also reported 145 new COVID-19 cases and sevendeaths linked to the illness over a period of two days, after a Canada Day reporting hiatusthat saw 91 cases rolled over to Friday,Atwal said at a news conference.

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Of Friday's cases,23 were in the Winnipeg health region. There were also 11in the Southern Health region, ninein the Interlake-Eastern health region, six in the Prairie Mountain Health region and five in the Northern Health Region, the province said in a news release.

Manitoba also reported 22 new delta cases on Friday, its online variant dashboard said.

Atwalsaid 187 of Manitoba's 239 delta cases were people who were not immunized before they got infected or had gotten one dose less than two weeks earlier.

"We do acknowledge some of these individuals may not have been eligible to be vaccinated. They may have had an appointment that came after they were infected or had barriers to access the vaccine," he said, encouraging unvaccinated people to get their shots.

Manitoba also reported 41 more cases of the B.1.1.7 or alpha variant, first seen in the U.K., three of the P.1 gamma variant associated with Brazil and 39 still unspecified, the dashboard said.

Atwal said Manitoba is still working on updated pandemic modelling that factors in more infectious coronavirus strains, including the delta variant.

Deaths linked to variants

Five of Manitoba's latest COVID-19 deaths were connected to variants, the province said.

That includes three from the Winnipeg health region:a woman in her 50s and a man in his 60s who had the alpha variant and a woman in her 70s who had an unspecified variant.

Awoman and a manin their 60s from the Southern Health region also hadthe alpha variant when they died.

A woman in her 40s from the Winnipeg health region and a man in his 70s from the Southern Health region have also died.

Manitoba has now had1,147 COVID-19 deaths.

A previously reported death a man in his 30s from the Interlake-Eastern health region was removed after a data correction after being announced Wednesday, the province said.

Manitobarecorded 49,566 more vaccine doses given over the past two days. Forty-six per cent of those 12 and older arenow fully vaccinated, while 74.2 per cent have at least one dose,the province's online vaccine dashboard said.

Manitoba's vaccination targets for the Terry Fox Day holiday Aug. 2 are 50 per cent for second doses and 75 per cent for first doses as part of the reopening plan.

The five-day provincial test positivity rate sank to 5.4 per cent Friday from 6.2 Wednesday. Winnipeg's sank to 4.8 per cent, down from 5.6.

There are now 163 Manitobans hospitalized after getting COVID-19, the province said, down 10 since Wednesday. Of those people, 49 are in intensive care down six including 14 under age 40, a Shared Health spokesperson said in an email.

There are still six Manitoba COVID-19 patients receiving critical care in Ontario.

The province started sending someCOVID-19intensive care patients to other regions in May as it worked to create space in its strained hospitals. Since then, 39people sent out of Manitoba have been brought back and 12 have died.

Atwal said the pandemic overwhelmed Manitoba's acute care system and it was proportionallyhit harder than any other province's somethinggovernments at the provincial and federal levelsarelooking into, he said.

"We're going to look at the information on who was a severe outcome, who got hospitalized, who ended up in the ICU in Manitoba. And we're going to provide that information with other provinces as well," Atwal said.

"That's going to take a lot of time, because it means reviewing all the cases. It means getting together with all these other jurisdictions to understand definitions and to review all the data."

A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at the M3 unit in Winnipeg's St. Boniface Hospital, while outbreaks areover at the Carman Memorial Hospital and the Eastview Place Personal Care Home in Altona, the province said.

To date, 56,306 Manitobans have tested positive for COVID-19, including 54,013 people considered recovered and 1,098 still deemed active.

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Provincial officials give update on COVID-19 outbreak: Friday, July 2, 2021.