Manitoba reports 3 new COVID-19 deaths, hospitalizations down by 5

Manitoba is reporting three new deaths due to COVID-19, while hospitalizations are down by five as of Thursday,according tothe government's online dashboard.

There are currently 459 people in hospital with COVID-19, down from 464 on Wednesday. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care is 29, down from 30.

To date, 1,685 Manitobans have died due to the virus.

The province is reporting 165 new lab-confirmed cases Thursday. This number is an undercount, as there is limited access to polymerase chain reaction testing.

There are 6,968 active cases, a decrease of 2,808 cases from the number reported Wednesday. These numbers are also an undercount.

A total of 973 tests were completed Thursday.

Yesterday, the government announced its plansto eliminate the isolation requirement for people who test positive for COVID-19. The province also plans to stop contact tracing.

These changes take effect March 15, the same day the mask mandate ends.

The five-day test positivity rate in Manitoba decreased to 12.5 per cent from 13.7 per cent.

Of the 165 new cases, 11 are in the Interlake-Eastern health region, 37 in the Northern Health Region, 44 in the Prairie Mountain health region, 13 in the Southern Health region and 60 in the Winnipeg health region.

The province dropped its vaccine mandate on March 1. The cards, QR codes and verifier app are still available to use at a business's own discretion.

Currently, 86.2 per cent of eligible Manitobans have their first dose, 82.1 per cent have their second, and 43.9 per cent have their third shot.

There was a slight 0.1 per cent increase in Manitobans getting theirthird dose, the provincial vaccine dashboard says.

There are 102 doses scheduled to be administered Thursday.

As of midnight, there were a total of 101patients in intensive care patients. That number includes those receiving non-COVID-19 care, along with those in ICU who have the illness.

Prior to the pandemic, the critical care program capacity was 72 patients.