Manitoba reports 48 new COVID-19 cases, lowest single-day jump since March

Manitoba reported 48 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the province'sonline COVID-19 dashboardsays, a number that hasn't been that low in nearly four months.

The last time the province reported fewer cases in a single day was on March 14, when there were 44 new infections. The seven-day average of new cases has now dropped to just under 69.

Manitoba's COVID-19 death toll now sits at 1,148 up one since Friday.

The province is no longer issuing coronavirus news releases on weekends, so no further details were included about the death. The dashboard's death total is sometimes adjusted when deaths are removed due to data errors.

According to the dashboard, there are 31 new cases in the Winnipeg health region, eight in the Prairie Mountain Health region, five in the Northern Health Region and four in the Southern Health region.

The Interlake-Eastern health region reported no new cases of the illness on Saturday, according to Saturday's online update.

Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate climbed slightly to 5.7 per cent, the dashboard says, up from 5.4 on Friday.

There are now 152 COVID-19 patients in Manitoba's hospitals, down by five since Friday. That includes 41 people in intensive care, the dashboard says, a drop of two.

On top of that, there are still six Manitoba COVID-19 patients receiving critical care in Ontario, a number thatremains unchanged since Friday, a Shared Health spokesperson said. The province started moving some of its ICU patients with the illness to other regions in mid-May as it worked to free up space in its strained hospitals.

Manitoba also reported 306 newly identified cases of more contagious coronavirus variants on Saturday, according to the province's online variant dashboard.

That includes 187 more cases of the B.1.1.7 alpha variant, which wasfirst seen in the U.K., and 12 more infections linked to the B.1.617.2 delta strain, initially detected in India. There are also 107 new cases that have been identified as more infectious variants but are still unspecified, the dashboard says.

As of Saturday, more than 47per cent of Manitobans age 12 and up have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the province's online vaccine dashboard says, while 74.4 per cent now have at least one dose.

The updatebrings Manitoba even closer to reaching its reopening plan goal of seeing at least half of those eligible vaccinated with two doses and at least three-quarters with one dose by Terry Fox Day (Aug. 2).

If that target is met, the province is expected to see greater capacity limits, increased allowed gathering sizes and fewer restrictions for specific sectors.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 56,353 Manitobans have tested positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus dashboard says. Of those people, 54,197 are considered recovered and 1,008 are still deemed active.