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For the first time in nearly a month, Saskatchewan didn’t report a death due to COVID-19 on Thursday.
In its daily update, the Ministry of Health said there weren’t any fatalities to announce. The last time that happened was Jan. 14.
To date, 348 Saskatchewan residents have died due to COVID.
“While we are currently seeing reduced trends in the last few weeks, each loss of life is one too many,” Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, said during a media conference.
The province also reported 114 new cases and 147 recoveries Thursday.
The new cases were reported in the Saskatoon (52), Regina (17), northwest (15), far northwest (five), far north-central (four), south-central (four), central-east (four), far northeast (three), north-central (three), northeast (three), central-west (two), southwest (one) and southeast (one) zones.
It was the fifth straight day the province reported fewer than 200 new cases.
“A declining trend is something we need to continue to see and we need to continue to stick to our best practices and not relax our measures right now because we really need to see this declining trend over the next few weeks,” Shahab said. “This is especially important because of variants of concern being detected not just in Canada but in Saskatchewan as well.
“The best protection against COVID and against transmission of variants are all the public health measures we are now practising.”
The seven-day average of new cases fell to 182, or 14.8 per 100,000 population. According to the government, the average is at its lowest level since Jan. 3 and is down 43 per cent from its peak on Jan. 12.
“Still, (the average) is higher than any of us would like to see, but it is trending in the correct direction,” Premier Scott Moe said. “So what we are all doing in this province — and have been doing for so long now — is collectively working. But we need to keep doing it and we need to keep doing it to protect ourselves and to protect those around us.”
Moe was referring to the public health orders that are in effect in the province, as well as the habits of wearing a mask, maintaining physical distance, washing hands and staying home when feeling ill.
The number of recoveries reported to date is 23,674. As of Thursday, 1,935 cases are considered active.
The number of hospitalizations fell to 187, its lowest mark since it was 177 on Jan. 22.
There are 24 people in intensive care around the province, with nine in each of the Regina and Saskatoon zones, two in each of the northwest and central-east regions, and one in each of the north-central and southwest areas.
To date, 1,689 health-care workers have tested positive for the virus. That number stood at 723 on Dec. 31.
The total number of cases includes 6,808 in the north zone, 6,776 in the Saskatoon area, 4,814 in the Regina region, 3,554 in the far north, 2,394 from the south zone, and 1,519 in the central zone.
The hometowns of 92 cases are pending.
There were 2,214 COVID tests processed in Saskatchewan on Wednesday.
Cold weather affects testing
The Saskatchewan Health Authority on Thursday closed the drive-through testing site in Yorkton due to the extreme cold.
The site at 276 Myrtle Ave., is expected to reopen Friday.
The same goes for the drive-through testing site in Prince Albert.
The facility located at The Cone Shop Car Wash at 890 Sixth Ave., closed Wednesday due to the weather.
Vaccination update
Health-care professionals administered 793 doses of COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday, bringing the total to date in Saskatchewan to 46,263.
They were administered in the far northwest (320), northeast (287), far northeast (125), north-central (29), far north-central (21) and southeast (11) zones.
The southeast also reported an additional 124 doses were given on Monday and Tuesday of this week.