Latest COVID update March 31: 191 new cases, 176 recoveries, 2 deaths

Nearly 8,500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in Saskatchewan on Tuesday.

In its daily update, the Ministry of Health said 8,491 shots were given, increasing the total number of vaccinations to date in the province to 192,927.

The ministry also reported 191 new cases of COVID, 176 recoveries and two deaths. There were 98 variants of concern detected, with 50 in the Regina region and 28 in the Saskatoon zone.

The Regina region recorded a single-day high with 89 hospitalizations, including 15 people in intensive care.

Vaccination update

The vaccinations were done in the Saskatoon (2,080), Regina (1,201), south-central (1,144), central-west (1,135), central-east (751), southeast (623), far northeast (610), northeast (509), far northwest (295), north-central (141) and far north-central (two) zones.

According to the government, one-fifth of Saskatchewan residents in their 80s are fully vaccinated after receiving their second doses.

Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine were received Tuesday in Saskatoon (15,210 doses), Regina (14,040), Prince Albert (3,510), North Battleford (2,340) and Yorkton (1,170).

Moderna doses are to arrive in Canada next week.

A look at the numbers

The new cases of COVID reported Wednesday increased the province’s total to date to 33,590.

The latest cases were recorded in the Regina (98), Saskatoon (20), south-central (20), southeast (15), central-east (15), southwest (six), north-central (five), northeast (three), northwest (three), and far northeast (one) zones.

The hometowns of five new cases remain under investigation.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 201, or 16.4 per 100,000 population.

During the month of March, the Regina region recorded 2,229 of the province’s 4,942 new cases. The Saskatoon zone had 757 new cases, followed by the north (712), the south (497), the far north (415) and the central (332) zones.

Demographically, the 20-to-39 age group had the most new cases, with 1,804. The 19-and-under group was next at 1,364, followed by the 40-to-59 group (1,209), the 60-to-79 category (475) and the 80-and-over demographic (90).

To date, there have been 31,199 recoveries reported. The active caseload stands at 1,955, with 1,030 of those in the Regina area.

The two deaths announced Wednesday were a person in their 70s from the Regina zone and an individual in the 80-and-over age group from the southwest zone. To date, 436 Saskatchewan residents have died due to COVID.

There are 166 people in Saskatchewan hospitals, including 23 in ICU.

The 2,978 COVID tests processed in Saskatchewan on Tuesday hiked the total so far to 665,449.

There have been 1,673 cases of variants of concern identified by screening in the province, with the bulk of them in the Regina (1,348), south-central (128), southeast (109), Saskatoon (46) and central-east (26) regions.

The new variant cases reported in the Saskatoon zone were from COVID-19 cases tested between March 24 and 29.

The Regina zone accounts for 412 of the 495 variant cases found in the province. That includes 487 cases of the United Kingdom variant and eight of the South African mutation.