Manitoba reported 74 new cases of COVID-19 June 21, the second straight day with case numbers below 100, a level last seen in April.
The five-day test positivity rate was eight per cent on Monday, the lowest it has been in weeks.
Northern Manitoba had only three new cases reported June 21, the second straight day with single-digit new case numbers.
There were also three cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region, three in the Prairie Mountain health region, 15 in the southern health region and 50 in Winnipeg.
231 people are in Manitoba hospitals as a result of COVID-19 infections, 58 of them in intensive care. There are also 15 Manitobans in intensive care units in Ontario and Alberta. The number of northerners hospitalized due to the virus is up from last week to 20, five of whom are in intensive care.
One more death was announced as a result of the virus on Monday, the 1,125th COVID-related death in Manitoba since the pandemic began.
There have been only two cases in people linked to schools in Thompson in the two weeks leading up to June 15, both of them at Deerwood School. There were two cases among people connected to Mel Johnson School in Wabowden over the same time period.
Northern Manitoba has seen 644 infections involving variants of concern as of June 19, 557 of them were caused by the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom, while 41 were caused by the B.1.617.2 or Delta variant. The other 46 cases were caused by uncategorized variants.
Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said June 21 that the province has met its vaccination targets for July 1 as outlined in the government’s reopening plan but said that other factors such as case numbers and the strain on the health care system will be taken into account when updates to public health orders are announced June 23.
