42 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death reported in Manitoba on Thursday

There are 42new COVID-19 cases in Manitoba on Thursday and one more person has died from the illness, the province says in a news release.

The cases are split between theInterlake-Eastern health region with 18, the Winnipeg health region with 14, the Prairie Mountain Health region with five, the Southern Health region with three and the Northern Health Region with two.

Manitoba's seven-day average of daily new COVID-19 cases is now down to just under 54.

The death was a woman in her 70s from the Winnipeg health region who had an unspecified coronavirus variant, the release said.

Manitoba has now recorded 1,164 deaths linked to COVID-19.

There were also97cases of more contagious coronavirus variants added to the province's online variant dashboardon Thursday. It takes time after aCOVID-19 diagnosis to determine whether it's a morecontagious variant, so reporting on variants lags behind overall coronavirus numbers.

Of those newly identified variant cases, 51 are linked to the B.1.617.2 delta variant first seen in India.

There are also 10 more cases of the B.1.1.7 alpha variant initially reported in the U.K., four more cases of the P.1 gamma variant associated with Brazil and 32 still listed as unspecified variants, the dashboard says.

Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate sank to 3.4 per cent from four per cent on Wednesday, while Winnipeg's dropped to 3.1 per cent from 3.8 per cent. The province did1,596 COVID-19 tests on Wednesday, bringing the total done in Manitoba to851,231.

There are now 128 Manitobans hospitalized after getting COVID-19, the release said, down three since Wednesday. Of those patients, 31 are in intensive care, down two.

There are still two Manitobans with COVID-19 receiving critical care in Ontario, the release said.

Manitoba has now fully vaccinated 59.3 per cent of its population age 12 and up against COVID-19, the province's online vaccine dashboard says. Among those with at least one dose, the number is now 76.9 per cent.

The province's third and final reopening plan goal is to giveat least 80 per cent of eligible Manitobansa first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and at least 75 per cent both shots by Labour Day on Sept. 6.

The province already surpassed its first two immunization targets ahead of schedule as part of that plan, which ties vaccination goals to holidays. As those milestones are reached, pandemic restrictions ease.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 57,028 Manitobans have tested positive for COVID-19, the release said. Of those people, 973 are still considered active cases while 54,891 have been deemed recovered.