Local Journalism Initiative reporter.

Along with seven new cases of COVID-19 in the North Central zone on August 11, the province reported two more people in the hospital with the illness, bringing the total to 18.

All of the new cases were in North Central 2, which includes the City of Prince Albert.

All told, there are 73 active cases in the zone right now.

So far, 53 of the confirmed cases in North Central have been the highly transmissible Delta variant, which is said to be as contagious as chicken pox and 200 per cent more transmissible than the original form of the virus.

There are now 43,983 fully vaccinated people in the zone, with 145 additional doses given in the last 24 hours.

The number of fully vaccinated people went up by 100, meaning that 45 of the vaccines were first shots.

As of August 11, 584 people have died in Saskatchewan after contracting the virus. Of those, three were 19 and under, 21 in their 20s and 30s, 67 were in their 40s and 50s, 222 were in their 60s and 70s and 271 were 80 and older.

The province said recently that in July, over 90 per cent of all new cases and hospitalizations in Saskatchewan are in unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people. All of the people who died were not vaccinated.