Four more COVID-19 deaths in province

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This article was published 13/03/2021 (2032 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four more Manitobans have died from COVID-19 and there are 94 new cases, but the good news is there have now been 100,000 arms jabbed with the vaccine since the first one became available here.

Public health officials announced Saturday the deaths of four Manitobans. The new deaths are:

• a man in his 60s from the Winnipeg health region;

• a woman in her 70s from the Winnipeg health region;

• a man in his 70s from the Interlake-Eastern health region; and

• a woman in her 80s from the Winnipeg health region and linked to the outbreak at the Concordia Place Personal Care Home.

Of the new cases, 29 are in the Winnipeg health region, 10 in Southern Health; three in Interlake–Eastern; seven in Prairie Mountain; and 45 in Northern.

The five-day test positivity rate is 4.2 per cent across the province and 2.9 per cent in Winnipeg and there are no new cases reported of any of the virus variants.

There are currently 872 active cases in Manitoba, with 152 people in hospital either with active COVID-19 or no longer infectious, but still needing care. There is a total of 22 patients in intensive care with 11 people still with active COVID-19.

There were 1,837 tests given Friday.

There was a ray of sunshine on Saturday — and it wasn’t just the Sun. The province announced it had now given vaccinations against the virus to 100,000 Manitobans since the first person received the vaccine Dec. 16.

Health and Seniors Care Minister Heather Stefanson said in a statement that “this milestone means thousands of people have been protected against COVID-19 with first and second doses, as we work together to protect one another from this deadly virus.”

Johanu Botha, the Vaccination Implementation Task Force’s operations lead, said in a statement “we continue to build the infrastructure needed to bring vaccine to people throughout our province.

“The pandemic continues to test the mettle of all of us, but we are on track with our response and our plan to administer 20,000 doses a day.”

Since the first vaccine was given to a person in Winnipeg, four large vaccine clinics have been opened in the city and the province with medical teams going to personal care homes to immunize residents while people living in congregate living began getting it on March 8.

More than 20 community pop up sites will open before the end of the month and another large vaccination clinic will open in Morden on March 22.

Dr. Joss Reimer, the task force’s medical lead, said in a statement “it has been difficult to be patient, particularly when vaccines were so scarce.

“We are seeing a ray of hope as we meet this milestone of 100,000 doses and ,as we deliver hundreds of thousands more doses, please keep following the fundamentals to keep yourself and your loved ones healthy.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca