There were two deaths related to COVID-19 reported by the province on Wednesday.
One was in the Regina zone in the 70 to 79 age group and the other was in the South West zone and in the 80 plus age group.
The number of deaths related to COVID-19 in the province is currently 436.
There were five cases of COVID-19 reported in North Central, which includes Prince Albert, on Wednesday.
This was among a total of 191 cases reported in the province on Monday. Regina led the province with 98 cases reported.
Two cases with pending residence information have been assigned to the North Central zone.
North Central 2, which is Prince Albert, has 38 active cases.
North Central 1, which includes communities such as Christopher Lake, Candle Lake and Meath Park, has 21 active cases and North Central 3 has 25 active cases.
There are currently 166 people in hospital overall in the province. Of the 143 reported as receiving in patient care there are six in North Central. Of the 23 people reported as being in intensive care there are two in North Central.
The current seven-day average 201, or 16.4 cases per 100,000 population.
Of the 33,590 reported COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan, 1,955 are considered active.
The recovered number now sits at 31,199 after 176 more recoveries were reported.
The total number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic is 33,590 of those 8,084 cases are from the North area (3,275 North West, 3,497 North Central and1,312 North East).
There were 2,978 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on March 30.
As of today there have been 665,449 COVID-19 tests performed in Saskatchewan.
There were 8,491 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered yesterday in Saskatchewan bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 192,927.
There were 141 doses administered in the North Central reported. Doses were also administered in the adjacent North East, Far North West, Far North East, Far North Central, Central West, Central East, South Central, South East, Saskatoon and Regina.
The COVID-19 vaccine booking system has been expanded to include residents 60 years of age and older. Eligible residents are encouraged to book their COVID-19 vaccinations and can do so online or by phone.
According to the province as of March 31 one fifth of Saskatchewan residents in their 80s have now received their second dose of vaccine and are fully vaccinated.
Pfizer shipments were received March 30 for Prince Albert, which received 3,510 doses, Regina, Saskatoon, North Battleford and Yorkton. Moderna has confirmed 855,600 doses for Canada the week of April 5. Saskatchewan shipments will include the remaining deliveries from the previous week.
Six more variants of concern identified in North Central
There were six confirmed variants of concern (VOC) cases identified by the province in the North Central zone, which includes Prince Albert, on March 30. This follows four identified March 29.
This was among 1,673 variants of concern identified by screening in Saskatchewan. Other regions with identified cases included Regina, Saskatoon, Far North East, Central West, Central East, South West, South Central and South East. The 28 new VOCs reported in the Saskatoon zone are results from VOC screening positives COVID-19 cases tested between March 24 and 29.
Regina led the province with 1,348 identified.
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 was one new lineage results reported today. Of the 495 VOCs with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 487 are B1.1.1.7 (UK) and eight are B1.351 (SA).
The Regina zone accounts for 410 (or 84 per cent) of the VOC cases with confirmed lineage reported in Saskatchewan.
Please note that these VOC may have been initially identified via means other than screening (i.e. selection for whole genome sequencing without screening) and that whole genome sequencing results to identify lineage are included in the screening results.”
The province has also noted VOC are beginning to rise across southern Saskatchewan particularly in the Moose Jaw area and Moose Jaw residents are urged to adhere to best personal protective measures.
