Manitoba COVID-19 death count jumps 14, hospitalizations and cases continue to climb

The numbers of Manitobans with COVID-19 who have died or were admitted to hospital continues to climb, the latest report from Manitoba Public Health says.

Another 14 deaths were added to the province's total, bringing the number to 2,093 since the start of the pandemic. That's a bigger increase than the week before, when the province reported 12 more deaths.

The latest report is for the week ending Aug. 13.

During that week, 79 people were admitted to hospital with COVID-19, up from 57 the week before.

Of those, 19 were admitted to intensive care units, including one child under age 10. That's an increase from 12 ICU admissions the previous week.

Manitobans continued to die at a faster rate compared to the same time period last year. A total of 569 people have died in 2022 as of the week ending Aug. 13, Manitoba Health reports, which works out to a rate of 2.5 deaths per day.

During the same 224-day period last year, there were 488 deaths, a rate of 2.2 deaths per day.

Case numbers continued their upward trend for the fourth week in a row. There were 455 lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba, compared to 347 the previous week. That number is an undercount due to limited access to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, the only type of test recorded by public health.

Wastewater surveillance data in Winnipeg has shown a decrease in COVID-19 activity since late July. 

There were nine outbreaks reported, including seven in long-term care homes and two in hospitals.

The province's weekly test-positivity rate increased to 23.8 per cent, from 20.8 per cent.