6 COVID-19 deaths, 13 more hospitalizations in Manitoba on Tuesday

Another six people have died due to COVID-19 in Manitoba and there are 13 more people with the coronavirus in hospital as of Tuesday, the provincial government reported through its online dashboard.

The number of hospitalizations set yet another record, with 729confirmed cases in Manitoba hospitals.

Cases in intensive care units remainthe same as Monday, with 49 total cases.

The deaths bring the toll to 1,521 in Manitoba.

Manitoba's test-positivity rate dropped slightly to 32.9 per cent, down from 33.3 per cent on Monday.

The province recorded another 637 cases of COVID-19 confirmed by PCR tests, although this number significantly undercounts the true number of cases, because access to testing is restricted.

Of those confirmed cases, 361 are in the Winnipeg health region, 93 in Prairie Mountain Health, 71 in the Northern HealthRegion,58 in Southern Healthand 54 in the Interlake-Eastern health region.

Labs completed 2,025 PCR tests on Monday.

There have now been 116,770 confirmed cases in Manitoba, 39,296 of which are currently listed as active.

Another304 cases have been linked to schools in Manitoba since the school year began on Sept. 7166 in students and138 in staff.

There have now been5,381 cases linked to schools, 3,946 among students and1,435 among staff.

As of Tuesday, 85.4per cent of eligible Manitobans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 78.9 per cent have two doses and 38.7per cent have received a booster, the province says.

Based on provincial data from the six-week period leading up to Jan. 19 the most recent available people who aren't fully vaccinated are three times as likely to be hospitalized with the illness, 11 times as likely to be admitted to an ICU and 10 times as likely to die from the coronavirus.