Manitoba hits pandemic high with 454people in hospital with COVID-19

Manitoba reported 36 more COVID-19 hospitalizations and three deaths on the province's online dashboard Wednesday.

There are now 454people in hospital with the virus, a new high since the province started reporting that statistic daily in December 2020. The previous high was the418 reported on Tuesday, but thenumber was 137 just three weeks ago.

Of those in hospital, 46 are in intensive care units, an increase of four since Tuesday.

The latest deaths are all from the Winnipeg health region. Awoman in her 60s, a woman in her 80s and a man in his 90s died. The latter is linked to an outbreak at Prairie View Lodge.

The province also released more details about the person whose death was announcedTuesday:he was a manin his 60s from the Winnipeg health region.

The total number of deaths in the province related to COVID-19 is now 1,429.

The dashboard also lists 1,478 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, although health officials have repeatedly said those numbers are a significant undercount of the total number of active cases.

The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has overwhelmed testing capacity and led to numerous cases going unreported. Many people are now using rapid tests, the results of which are not entered into the provincial database.

Manitoba is strictly restrictingaccess toPCR tests at provincial sites. To protect capacity, those tests are limited to certain people, including some symptomatic people and some people who have had a positive rapid test.

As has been the case for several weeks, the majority of the new cases are in the Winnipeg health region, with 816.

There are 268 in the Northern Health Region, 159 in the Prairie Mountain Health region, 124 in the Southern Health region, and 111 in the Interlake-Eastern health region.

Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate dropped slightly for the second consecutive day, to 47.2 per cent, from 48.1 on Tuesday and 49 on Monday.

A breakdown of the latest cases by vaccination status can be viewed on a chart on the government website.

As of Wednesday, 84.7 per cent of eligible Manitobanshave had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 78 per cent have had at least two and 31.9 per cent have had three, theprovincial vaccine dashboard says.

Eligibility for first and second dosesincludes anyone age five or older. Anyone 18 or older is eligible for a third dose, if there's been a long enough interval since they received their second dose.

The total number of doses administered in the province is now at 2,601,144 with 5,903 more scheduled to be given on Wednesday.

New testing sites

The province opened a new testing sitein Winnipeg on Wednesday and is openinganotheron Thursday.

The newly openeddrive-thru site at 1300 Redonda St.isoffering PCR tests only to eligible people. Non-eligible people will be turned away.

The location opening Thursday is at 820 Taylor Ave. and will offer rapid antigen test pickup by appointment only. Appointments can be booked immediately.

For more information about how to book an appointment and hours of operation on all testingsites, click here.

Outbreaks

New outbreaks have been declared at:

• Pembina Place personal care home in Winnipeg.
• St. Norbert personal care home inWinnipeg.
• Concordia Hospital, unit N3W, in Winnipeg.
• Grace Hospital, 4 North and 2 South, in Winnipeg.
• Bethania Personal Care Home inWinnipeg.
• Deer Lodge Centre inWinnipeg.
• Health Sciences Centre, unit GH4, in Winnipeg.
• Betel Home personal care home inSelkirk.
• Rideau Park personal care home inBrandon.

A previously announced outbreakis now over atLions Prairie Manor personal care home inPortage la Prairie.