74 new cases of COVID-19, 3 more deaths reported in Manitoba Friday

Manitoba has 74 new cases of COVID-19 and three more people have died from the disease.

The three people who died include two cases linked to the alpha variant, also known as B.1.1.7. They are both men, one in his 30s from the Winnipeg health region, and the other in his 70s from the Prairie Mountain Health region.

The third person who died is a man in his 80s, also from the Prairie Mountain Health region.

A total of 1,160 people have died with COVID-19 in Manitoba.

Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate fell to 5.1 per cent, from 5.4 per cent on Thursday, and Winnipeg's fell to 4.6, from5.2 the day before.

Cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region have madeup an increasing share of the province's daily total in recent days. On Friday, the region had 22 new cases.

TheWinnipeg region had 33 new cases, the Southern Health region had 13, the Northern Health Region had five, and Prairie Mountain Health had one.

There are 141 Manitobans in hospital due to COVID-19, one fewer than on Thursday, including 37 patients in intensive care units. Four of those patients are receiving care in Ontario hospitals.

The total number of active cases in Manitoba rose by 14 to 1,030, while54,549 people have recovered.

A total of1,465 COVID-19 tests were done on Thursday.

Cases linked to variants of concern rose by 15 on Friday, to a total of 15,861. All 15 new variant cases identified on Friday are marked as unspecified.