Winnipeg girl under 10 dies from COVID-19 as Manitoba reports 97 new cases

A girl under age 10 has died after getting COVID-19, the province says in a news release.

The province says she lived in the Winnipeg health region but did not release any further information.

The death brings Manitoba's total linked to the illness to1,139.

Manitoba also reported 97 new cases of the illness on Sunday, the release said.

Most of the new cases were in the Winnipeg health region, which announced 50 new infections.

The rest are split among the Northern Health Region, which has 16, the Interlake-Eastern health region, with 14, the Southern Health region, with 12, and the Prairie Mountain Health region, with five, the release says.

Manitoba's five-day test positivity rate rose again to 6.5 per cent, up from 6.1 on Saturday. Winnipeg's increased to 6.9 per cent, the release says, up from 6.7.

There are currently 193 Manitobans hospitalized with COVID-19, up by six since Saturday.

Of those patients, 64 are in intensive care, down by one. There are still 12 ICU patients in hospitals outside Manitoba as the province works to free up space in its strained hospitals:11 in Ontario and one in Alberta, the release says.

As of Sunday, 36.6 per cent of Manitobans over age 12 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the province's online vaccine dashboard says. For those with at least one dose, that figure now sits at 72.7 per cent.

Since the start of the pandemic, 55,975 Manitobans have tested positive for COVID-19, the release says. Of those, 53,356 are considered recovered and 1,480 are deemed active.