Change in Public Health Orders announced Tuesday

(File photo/Jayda Taylor)

On Tuesday, the provincial government changed Saskatchewan’s Public Health Orders to limit all household bubbles to immediate households, and cap worship gathering sizes at no more than 30 people.

The household bubble changes are effective immediately. The new worship gathering limits begin on on Friday, April 16.

These new measures remain in effect until April 26 and will be reviewed at that time.

Specific public health orders for the City of Regina were also extended until April 26, but otherwise remain unaltered.

Due to increased COVID-19 transmission risk in Regina and area, revisions were made March 24, these included closing all restaurants and licensed establishments for in-person dining; and most event venues supporting 30 persons or less are not permitted to operate.Travel is also not recommended in or out of the Regina area unless absolutely necessary.

Saskatchewan health officials reported two new deaths related to COVID-19 on Tuesday.

The deaths were both in the Regina zone with one in the the 60 to 69 age group and one in the 30 to 39 age group.

The number of deaths related to COVID-19 has risen to 457.

On Tuesday there were five cases reported in North Central, which includes Prince Albert.

This was among a total of 288 cases reported in the province. Regina led the province with 117 new cases reported.

Two cases with pending residence information have also been assigned to the North Central.

North Central 2, which is Prince Albert, has 27 active cases. North Central 1, which includes communities such as Christopher Lake, Candle Lake and Meath Park, has 24 active cases and North Central 3 has 10 active cases.

There are currently 202 COVID-19 patients in hospital across the province. Of the 161 reported as receiving in patient care, eight are in North Central. Of the 41 people reported as being in intensive care, two are in North Central.

The current seven-day average for new cases is 271, or 22.1 cases per 100,000 population. Of the 36,892 reported COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan, 2,555 are considered active. Another 280 recoveries were reported on Tuesday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 33,880.

Since the start of the pandemic, 8,437 cases have been reported in the North area (3,473 North West, 3,584 North Central and 1,380 North East).

There were 3,007 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on April 12. As of April 13, there have been 710,655 COVID-19 tests performed in Saskatchewan.

There were 7,846 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered in Saskatchewan bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 298,767 .

There were 311 doses administered in the North Central Zone reported on Friday. Doses were also administered in the adjacent North East, North West, Far North East, Far North West, Far North Central, Central East, Central West, South Central, South East, South West, Saskatoon and Regina.

There were 231 doses administered with zone of residence information pending.

In an effort to continue to protect residents as quickly as possible, the eligible age for booking vaccination appointments online or by telephone is also being lowered from 55 to 52. This change will take effect at 8 a.m. Wednesday April 14.

There are also several changes being made to the vaccine delivery plan to include more vulnerable groups to priority vaccination including all pregnant woman, young adults ages 16 and 17 who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable and everyone over the age of 40 in the far north.

Pregnant women and vulnerable 16 and 17 year olds will receive an eligibility letter from their physician and will need to use the 1-833-SaskVax telephone number to book

According to the province, 53 per cent of residents age 50 plus have received their first dose.

44 variants of concern identified in North Central

There are now 44 confirmed variants of concern (VOC) cases identified by the province in the North Central zone, which includes Prince Albert, as of April 13.

This was among 3,813 variants of concern identified by screening in Saskatchewan to date. Other regions with identified cases included Regina, Saskatoon, Far North East, Central West, Central East, South West, South Central and South East. There are currently 21 cases with area of residency pending.

There were also still three variants identified in the adjacent North East zone.

Regina led the province with 2,505 identified VOCs.

These have previously been reported as “presumptive positives” but all screening tests will be considered confirmed VOCs for the purposes of public reporting and contact investigations.

There were no new lineage results reported today. Of the 1,435 VOCs with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 1,426 are B1.1.1.7 (UK) and nine are B1.351 (SA).

The Regina zone accounts for 1,131 (79 per cent) of the VOC cases with confirmed lineage reported in Saskatchewan.

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