COVID-19 in Sask: Hospitalizations reach an all-time high, 6 more deaths reported
Mickey Djuric | CBC News | Posted: January 27, 2021 9:33 PM | Last Updated: January 27, 2021
149 new cases, 264 new recoveries also reported
Hospitalizations in Saskatchewan related to COVID-19 reached an all-time high on Wednesday. The province also reported six new deaths.
One of the COVID-related deaths was a person in their 50s and lived in the Saskatoon zone, while another was a person in their 60s from the north central zone.
The other four people were in their 80s and all lived in the Saskatoon zone.
The province has now reported 268 COVID-related deaths since the pandemic began. Of those, 121 occurred in January.
Saskatchewan reported 149 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the provincial caseload so far to 22,794.
Here's where the new cases are:
- Far northwest: five.
- Far north central: one.
- Far northeast: three.
- Northwest: eight.
- North central: eight.
- Northeast: eight.
- Saskatoon zone: 48.
- Central west: two.
- Central east: seven.
- Regina zone: 38.
- South central: two.
- Southeast: 15.
There are four cases with pending locations.
The seven-day average of daily new cases is 242, or 19.8 new cases per 100,000 people, a decrease from the previous day.
The province says a total of 19,993 known cases have recovered from the virus, an increase of 264 since Tuesday. There are 2,527 cases considered active.
Hospitalizations hit a new high
While active cases continue to decline, hospitalizations are on the rise.
Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer has previously stated there's a lag between COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. On average, a person will be hospitalized two to three weeks after contracting the virus.
As of Wednesday, there are 220 people in hospital in the province, an all-time high since the pandemic began. There are 36 people in the ICU due to COVID-19.
The previous record was on Jan. 18, when 210 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.
The province processed 2,176 COVID-19 tests on Tuesday.
Vaccine update
The province administered 429 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in Saskatchewan to 34,615.
The doses were administered in the following areas:
- Saskatoon: 230.
- Far North Central: 22.
- North West: 58.
- South East: 119.
As of Tuesday, the province says it has administered 106 per cent of the number of doses it has officially received, with the overage due to efficiencies in drawing extra doses from vials.
Highest rate of cases in the last week
Saskatchewan continues to lead Canada with the highest rate of cases for the past seven days.
Saskatchewan's rate is 151 cases per 100,000 people, compared to the national average of 99 cases per 100,000 people.
The seven-day average is a metric commonly used by Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer, as smooths-out single-day peaks and valleys.
The province's rate of active cases continues to decline after the province was holding the top spot nationally for several weeks.
Saskatchewan has 226 active cases per 100,000 people, compared to the national average of 158 active cases per 100,000.
Manitoba has the highest active case rate at 255 people per 100,000. However, the government of Manitoba has said its active cases are overstated due to a backlog in designating active cases as recovered.