Saskatchewan health officials reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 in North Central, which includes Prince Albert, on Thursday.
In the province there was a total of 129 new cases reported. Saskatoon led the province with 52 new cases reported.
The number of deaths in Saskatchewan related to COVID-19 currently sits at 522 after no deaths were reported Thursday.
North Central 2, which is Prince Albert, has 75 active cases. North Central 1, which includes communities such as Christopher Lake, Candle Lake and Meath Park, has 40 active cases and North Central 3 has 33 active cases.
There are currently 138 COVID-19 patients in hospital across the province. Of the 112 reported as receiving in patient care, there are seven in North Central. Of the 26 people reported as being in intensive care, there are two in North Central.
The current seven-day average for new cases is 169, or 13.8 cases per 100,000 population. Of the 45,128 reported COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan, 1,785 are considered active.
Another 147 recoveries were reported on Thursday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 42,821.
Since the start of the pandemic, 9,906 cases are from the North area (4,266 North West, 4,121 North Central and 1,519 North East)
There were 3,069 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on May 19.
As of today there have been 833,697 COVID-19 tests performed in Saskatchewan.
There were 4,777doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered in Saskatchewan bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 620,236.
There were 351 doses administered in the North Central zone reported on Wednesday. Doses were also administered in the adjacent North East, North West, Far North Central, Far North East, Far North Central, Central West, Central East, South Central, South East, South West, Regina and Saskatoon.
There were 118 doses administered with zone of residence pending.
According to the province, 75 per cent of residents over the age of 40, 68 per cent of those 30 plus and 60 per cent of those 18 plus have received their first dose.
Eligibility in the provincial age-based immunization program expanded Thursday to age 12 and older. The province said this achieves the last step in Saskatchewan’s age-based first dose immunization program.
As well, this week’s shipment of 63,180 Pfizer doses has arrived in Saskatchewan. These doses are now being distributed to Regina, Saskatoon, North Battleford, Prince Albert, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) South, ISC North, ISC North Battleford, Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority (NITHA) Prince Albert, and pharmacies throughout the province.
335 variants of concern identified in North Central
There are now 335 confirmed variants of concern (VOC) cases identified by the province in the North Central zone, as of May 19.
This was among 9,687 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 59 cases with area of residency pending.
There are now 57 VOCs identified in the adjacent North East.
Regina led the province with 4,472 identified VOCs.
There were 262 new lineage results reported today. Of the 4,848 VOCs with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 4,735 are B.1.1.1.7 (UK), 10 are B.1.351 (SA), 96 are P.1. (Brazilian) and seven are B.1.617 (Indian).
The B.1.617 (Indian) was identified in North Central last Friday.
