2 COVID-19 deaths in Manitoba as province announces 180 more cases

There are 180 new COVID-19 cases in Manitoba on Saturday and two more people have died from the illness, the province says in a news release.

The latest deaths are two men: one in his 70s from the Southern Health region and one in his 80s from the Winnipeg health region, the release says.

Just under half the new cases on Saturday — 83 — are in the Winnipeg health region, the release says. There are also 69 new cases in the Northern Health Region, which has seen a sharp uptick in cases this week due to outbreaks in several communities, health officials have said.

A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at the Lynn Lake Hospital, the release says, while an outbreak previously declared in Winnipeg's Seven Oaks General Hospital's 4U4-7 unit is now over.

Lynn Lake, a small northwestern Manitoba town of fewer than 500 people, was already dealing with an outbreak of its own. As of Wednesday, the community had 121 known active cases of the illness.

The health district that includes Lynn Lake now has a total of 145 active cases, according to the province's data portal.

The remaining new cases are spread out between the Southern and Interlake-Eastern health regions (with 10 each) and the Prairie Mountain Health region (with eight).

The update comes one day after the provincial government asked people for their input on the possibility of lifting some pandemic restrictions next week.

Manitoba's current public health orders banning most gatherings and the sale of non-essential goods are set to expire on Friday.

Because of a data error, one previously reported death has been removed from Manitoba's totals, the release says. That brings the province's COVID-19 death toll to 761.

Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate increased slightly to 10.2 per cent, up from 10 on Friday. In Winnipeg, that rate dropped from 7.2 per cent on Friday to seven per cent.

There are now 283 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Manitoba — down by one from Friday — including 36 who are in intensive care, one more than Friday.

The province reminded people to check restrictions in other regions before they go anywhere if they have to travel.

In Ontario, new public health rules say people can only go to another residence or cottage in the province for less than 24 hours to do essential business, the release says. If they stay any longer, they may have to stay and self-isolate for 14 days.

There have now been 27,322 COVID-19 cases identified in Manitoba. To date, 23,575 are considered recovered, while another 2,986 are still listed as active — though health officials have recently said that number is inflated by a data entry backlog, and there are likely only about half as many active cases.

There were 2,043 COVID-19 tests done in Manitoba on Friday, which brings the total number completed in the province to 450,104.