COVID-19 in Sask: 219 new cases, record 47 patients in ICU, one more death

Saskatchewan reported 219 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, and one more person has died due to the novel coronavirus.

The resident who died was in the 60 to 69 age group and from the Saskatoon zone. There have now been 440 deaths in the province due to COVID-19.

As of Monday, there were 195 people in hospital in the province due to COVID-19, including a record 47 in intensive care. 

Regina has the bulk of those ICU patients, with 31. 

Variant of concern (VOC) cases continue to rise across southern Saskatchewan, particularly in the Moose Jaw and Weyburn areas. 

As of Sunday, 2,453 total VOC have been identified by screening in Saskatchewan, reported in the far north east (four), north west (three), north central (18), Saskatoon (151), central west (12), central east (41), Regina (1,756), south west (10), south central (204) and south east (195) zones. 

There are 59 VOC cases with area of residence pending, according to the province. 

These cases were previously reported as "presumptive positives." Now, the provinces says all screening tests will be considered confirmed VOC. 

There are no new lineage results being reported Monday. 

Of the 951 VOC with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 943 are the B117 variant, which was first detected in the U.K. And eight are B1351, first detected in South Africa.

The Regina zone accounts for 803 — or 84 per cent — of the VOC cases with confirmed lineage reported in Saskatchewan.

Of the 34,763 known COVID-19 cases to date in the province, 2,202 cases are considered active. 

The seven-day average of daily new cases in Saskatchewan is 218 — 17.8 new cases per 100,000 population. 

The new cases Monday are in the following provincial zones:

• Far north west: three. 
• North west: eight.
• North central: four.
• North east: four.
• Saskatoon: 44.
• Central west: one.
• Central east: 12.
• Regina: 110.
• South west: one.
• South central: 20.
• South east: 10.

Residence information is pending for two other new cases.

The province also reported 212 new recoveries. There have been 32,121 known recoveries in total as of Monday. 

To date, 684,404 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan, 3,330 of which were processed on Sunday.

More than 220,000 vaccines administered

There were 7,241 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered Saturday in Saskatchewan, according to the province.

To date, a total of 221,533 shots have been administered. 

The latest doses were administered in the following provincial zones:

• Far north west: 15.
• Far north east: 55.
• North west: 638.
• North central: 766.
• North east: 67.
• Saskatoon: 1,507.
• Central east: 386.
• Central west: 60.
• Regina: 2,122.
• South west: 268.
• South central: 705.
• South east: 504.

There were 148 doses administered with pending residence information.

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