52 more COVID-19 deaths reported in Manitoba as hospitalizations rise

Manitoba added 52 COVID-19 deaths to its total in the latest weekly update from public health officials.

The death toll since the start of the pandemic now stands at 1,980 in Manitoba.

Hospitalizations rose after a period of declining numbers, as 120 people were admitted to hospital in the latest reporting period, from May 22 to May 28. The week before, 112 people were admitted to hospital.

There were nine patients admitted to intensive care units.

Seven outbreaks were declared, including three in long-term care homes and four in health-care facilities.

A total of 416 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed by laboratory tests, a decrease from 537 the previous week. This is an undercount of the true number of infections in the province, due to limited access to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, the only kind of test recorded by public health officials.

Of those cases, 226 were in the Winnipeg Health region, 69 were in the Prairie Mountain Health region, 46 were in theSouthern Health region, 38 were in the Northern Health Regionand 37 were in the Interlake-Eastern health region.

The province's weekly test positivity rate dropped to 13 per cent, from 15.4 per cent the week before.

Labs completed an averageof 621 tests per day, compared to 704 the previous week.

Outbreaks were declared in the following facilities:

• Erickson Health Centre.
• Victoria General Hospital, Unit 5 South.
• Wawanesa Health Centre.
• Altona Community Memorial Health Centre.
• St. Norbert Personal Care Home.
• Lundar Personal Care Home.
• Misericordia Health Centre, Unit C6.