Public health officials advise one new death in a person with COVID-19 has been reported today, a man in his 70s from Southern Health linked to the B.1.1.7 (alpha) variant of concern.

Today's data shows two active cases in Portage, two in rural Portage, zero in North Norfolk, one case in Cartier, five in Carman, four in Grey, zero in Macdonald, seven in Whitemud, and 27 active cases in Seven Regions.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 5.9 per cent provincially and 6.5 per cent in Winnipeg. As of 9:30 a.m. today, 85 new cases of the virus have been identified. However, one case has been removed due to data correction. This brings the net-new number of cases today to 84 and the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba to 55,777.</ 

Today’s COVID-19 data shows:
• 10 cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region;
• eight cases in the Northern health region;
• five cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region;
• nine cases in the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region; and
• 53 cases in the Winnipeg health region.

The data also shows:
· 1,635 active cases and 53,007 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19;
· 197 Manitobans hospitalized with COVID-19 in Manitoba and neighbouring provinces, including:
− 98 people in hospital in Manitoba with active COVID-19 as well as 87 people in hospital with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious, amounting to a total of 185 hospitalizations;
· a total of 66 Manitoba patients receiving intensive care for COVID-19 including:
− 28 people in intensive care units in Manitoba with active COVID-19 as well as 26 people with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, amounting to a total of 54 ICU patients in Manitoba; and
− 12 Manitoba patients in intensive care units outside the province, with 11 in Ontario and one in Alberta;
· 35 patients previously receiving care in an out-of-province ICU have now been returned to Manitoba hospitals for further care; and
− no COVID-19 patients were transported out of province for care yesterday.
· 1,625 laboratory tests were completed yesterday, bringing the total number of lab tests completed since early February 2020 to 823,640; and
· the total number of deaths in people with COVID-19 is 1,135.

Possible exposure locations are listed online by region at the province’s #RestartMB Pandemic Response System webpage. For up-to-date information on possible public exposures to COVID-19 in regions, visit www.gov.mb.ca/covid19/updates/flights.html#event and click on your region.

Additional data on variants of concern is updated from Tuesday to Saturday at: https://geoportal.gov.mb.ca/. Data related to COVID-19, outbreaks and some downloadable and historic data can also be found at this site.

For up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, including the online screening tool, testing criteria and locations, self-isolation requirements, public health fundamentals and the provincial response level on the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System, visit: www.manitoba.ca/COVID19.