Intensive care unit number hits 4th-wave high as Manitoba reports 14 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday

Manitoba reports 14 more people have died due to COVID-19 and hospitalizations in the province fell by nine on Thursday.

This is the second day in a row that hospitalizations have fallen, after making an almost-uninterrupted climb over the past several weeks. There are now 711 patients in hospital who have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the most recent update on the province's COVID-19 dashboard.

The number of patients in intensive care units counting both those with COVID-19 and those who do not have the illnessreached a new high for the fourth wave off the pandemic, with 111 patients in total,a Shared Health spokesperson said in an email to CBC.That number is up by six fromWednesday.

The province's pre-pandemic baseline ICU capacity was 72.

The number of patients in intensive care units with COVID-19rose by two to 51.

With the latest deaths, Manitoba's total rose to 1,538. So far in January, 148 people have died due to COVID-19, making this Manitoba's fourth-deadliest month of the pandemic.

The province's five-day test-positivity rate fellto 30.6 per cent, down from 32.4 per cent.

Another 582 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed by PCR tests, although thatsignificantly undercounts the true number because the province has restricted access to testing.

Of the confirmed cases, 300 are in the Winnipeg health region, 97 are in the Interlake-Eastern health region, 81 are in the Northern Health Region, 53 are in Prairie Mountain Health and51 are in Southern Health.

Thenew COVID-19cases bring the province's total to 117,971. Currently, 28,951 cases are listed as active, but that number is also likely a significant undercount.

Labs in Manitoba completed 1,769 COVID-19 tests on Wednesday.

There have been 152 more cases linked to schools sincethe province's numberswere last updated on Tuesday 78 among students and 74 among staff.

There have now been a total of5,533 school-related cases since Sept. 74,024 among students and1,509 staff cases.

As of Thursday, 85.5 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 79.1 per cent have two doses, and 39.2 per cent have had three doses,according to the province's website.