After no report of COVID-19 numbers on Monday the province’s dashboard did update on Tuesday.
There were four new deaths reported in the province on Tuesday. One death was reported in North Central in the 60 to 69 age group, other deaths were reported in the Far North West, Saskatoon and Regina.
The number of deaths related to COVID-19 is now 592.
The age groups of the other deaths were not available.
Saskatchewan health officials reported 16 new cases of COVID-19 in North Central on Tuesday.
This was among a total of 139 cases reported in the province. The number of deaths related to COVID-19 is now 592.
Saskatoon led the province with 46 new cases. 52,800
Of the 52,800 reported COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan, 1,625 are considered active.
Taking the new reported cases into account there were 189 new cases reported Monday, exact statistics for North Central are not known.
North Central 2, which is Prince Albert, has 117 active cases. North Central 1, which includes communities such as Christopher Lake, Candle Lake and Meath Park, has 62 active cases and North Central 3 has 13 active cases.
Three cases with pending residence information was also added to North Central.
According to the province, 46.8 per cent of new cases are in the 20 to 39 years age category.
There are currently 100 COVID-19 patients in hospital across the province, 69 of which are not fully vaccinated. There are currently 86 patients receiving in patient care and 14 in intensive care. North Central has 21 patients in hospital.
The current seven-day average for new cases is 184, or 15.3 cases per 100,000 population.
Another 119 recoveries were reported on Tuesday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 50,583.
Since the start of the pandemic, 11,671 cases are from the North area (4,957 North West, 4,902 North Central and 1,812 North East).
There were 2,044 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on Saturday. As of August 24, there have been 1,003,767 COVID-19 tests performed in Saskatchewan.
There were 452 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered in Saskatchewan bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 1,462,380.
There were 59 doses administered in the North Central Zone reported on Monday. Doses were also administered in the adjacent North East, North West, Far North East, Far North West, Central West, Central East, South West, South East, South Central, Regina and Saskatoon.
According to the province 45,365 people in North Central are fully vaccinated.
665 total variants of concern identified in North Central
There are 665 confirmed variants of concern (VOC) cases identified by the province in the North Central zone as of August 24.
This was among 12,437 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 76 cases with area of residency pending.
There are 86 variants identified in the adjacent North East zone.
Regina led the province with 4,835 identified VOCs.
Of the 9,046 VOCs with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 7,106 are Alpha (B.1.1.7), 10 are Beta (B.1.351), 456 are Gamma (P.1) and 1,474 are Delta (B.1.617.2).
Error at provincial testing lab leads to false positives in LTC homes
According to an update on Tuesday the Ministry of Health and Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) have identified an instrument error that occurred at the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory resulting in up to 255 invalid COVID-19 test results from August 18 – 22. These samples have been retested and 206 are inconsistent with the first result. In order to confirm that invalid tests are negative, a full reconciliation of the data is underway and should be completed by tomorrow. Family notification is commencing immediately for LTC residents identified as false-positive that have since tested negative and for residents living in impacted facilities.
Fifty-four residents at long-term care homes in Regina previously testing positive have been re-tested and confirmed to be negative for COVID-19. Further investigation is underway to determine if some of the current long-term care outbreaks can be declared over and family presence be resumed at these facilities.
The RRPL receives test samples from around the province. Affected individuals will be contacted to confirm their test results
