Saskatchewan to stop releasing daily COVID-19 updates

Saskatchewan says it will soon stop providing daily COVID-19 updates as the virus "moves from pandemic to endemic."

That decision means there will no longer be a daily recap issued by the province on how many new cases or deaths were recorded or how many vaccines were administered. 

Instead, the province will move to a weekly recap as of Aug. 3. 

Saskatchewan's dashboard of COVID-19 data will still be updated on a daily basis, the province said. 

The news comes as the number of active COVID-19 cases reached a level not seen since the province dropped all public restrictions on July 11.

As of Thursday the number of active cases in the province stood at 412.

On July 10, the number of active cases was 413. 

The increase in active case numbers was caused by 52 new cases reported on Thursday.

The new cases are located in the following health zones; 

• Far northwest: nine.
• Far north central: two.
• Far northeast: three.
• Northwest: six.
• North central: four.
• Northeast: two.
• Saskatoon: nine. 
• Central east: one.
• Regina: six.
• Southeast: five.

The new cases have also bumped the seven-day rolling average of new known COVID-19 cases in the province. The average is now 44. 

Saskatchewan did not report any new COVID-19-related deaths on Thursday, keeping the figure at 578.

The current number of hospitalizations remained at 43, the same as it was on Wednesday. Nine of the 43 people are receiving intensive care. 

An additional 6,019 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered since the province's last update. 

Vaccines continue to be dominated by second doses, with 80 per cent of the doses administered on Thursday being categorized as second doses. 

As of Thursday 1,400,844 doses have been administered in Saskatchewan. 

The province said 75 per cent of those eligible to receive the vaccine have now received at least a first dose, while 63 per cent have had their second dose.