69 new COVID-19 cases, 5 deaths reported in Manitoba

Manitoba public health officials announced 69 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths, including a patient in Ontario.

This is the third consecutive day of double-digit numbers after more than two months of triple-digit increases.

The deaths include aman in his 20s from the Interlake-Eastern health region, linked to the B.1.1.7 (alpha) variant of concern, and a man inhis 60s from the Southern Health region, linked to the same variant.

The other two deaths in Manitoba are both women in their 70s from theWinnipeg health region. One islinked to the alpha variant and the other is linked to an as-yet-unspecified variant.

A spokesperson for Manitoba's provincial health organization, Shared Health, announced Tuesday that a man in his 50s, who was moved to Ontario on May 30 for COVID care, has died.

His death is not part of the currentfatality count but will be added in the coming days, the spokesperson said.

The total number of Manitobans who have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic is now 1,129, not including the most recent death in Ontario. Of those deaths, 137 were related to variants of concern.

There are33 new cases in theWinnipeg health region, 16 in theSouthern Health region, 15 in the Northern Health Region,four in the Interlake-Eastern health region and one in thePrairie Mountain Health region.

The seven-day average has fallen to 126. The highest average so far during the 15-month pandemic was 482, recorded May 22.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 7.6 per cent provincially (down from eighton Monday) and 6.6 per cent in Winnipeg (down from 6.9).

There are 224 Manitobansin hospitalwith COVID-19, including 71 receiving intensive care. Of those ICU patients, 57 are in Manitoba hospitals, 13 are in Ontario and one is in Alberta.

A total of 10 COVID-19 patients from Manitoba have died while in out-of-province ICUs sincethe first people were sent to Ontarioin mid-May.

In all, 57critically ill COVID patients have been sent out of province for care since May 18. That includes 53to Ontario, two to Alberta and two to Saskatchewan.Thirty-three have since returned to Manitoba to continue their care, Shared Health said.

The province also announced that COVID outbreaks at the Dauphin River Health Centre medical unit and the St. Maurice Daycare in Winnipeghave been declared over.

2nd delta death

A second death in Manitoba has been linked to the B.1.617.2 or delta coronavirus variant, the province's online variant dashboardsays.

There is no information about the person or when the death occurred, just an increase in the number of deaths by one.

Last week, Manitoba announced itsfirst delta-related death. The province later said thatperson died May 20 but wasn't originally reported as being linked to that variant. It took several days before it wasconfirmed to be a delta case.

The dashboard on Tuesday also listed140 newly identified cases of coronavirus variants over the past three days. It is not updated on Sundays and Mondays.

The caseload wentfrom 14,500 on Saturday to 14,640 on Tuesday.

That includes 69 more casesof the alpha variant and30 more of the delta, which doctors have said is even more highly contagious and causes more hospitalizations than other variants of concern.

There were seven delta cases in Manitoba on June 4. As of Tuesday, there are 163.