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Saskatchewan reported 21 new cases of COVID-19 variants of concern Friday — all in the Regina region.
There now are 156 confirmed variant cases in the province, with 149 of the United Kingdom mutation and seven of the South African strain. The Regina zone has 141 of the confirmed variant cases being reported in Saskatchewan.
The region also has 434 of the 508 presumptive cases in the province.
Once again Friday, the provincial government advised people in the Regina area to take extra precautions to avoid the potential spread of the variants of concern and to avoid unnecessary travel.
“It is recommended that Regina and area residents — particularly those over age 50 — should not consider increasing their household bubbles to include two to three households up to 10 people,” the government said in a media release. “They should consider remaining with their current household only.”
The government also reminded people services at places of worship in the Regina region remain capped at 30 people, even as services in other areas of the province can increase to 150 people or 30 per cent of seating capacity (whichever is less).
The Regina zone also recorded the most new cases of COVID, with 86 of the 174 reported.
The other new cases were in the Saskatoon (20), central-east (12), northeast (11), southeast (11), northwest (eight), north-central (eight), south-central (six), southwest (four) and far northeast (three) regions. The hometowns of five new cases are under investigation.
The seven-day average of daily new cases is 128, or 10.4 per 100,000 population. The province’s total number of cases since last March increased to 31,259.
The government also reported the deaths of three more people: A person in their 50s from the far north-central zone, an individual in their 60s from the far northwest area and a person in the 80-and-over group from the central-west zone.
To date, 414 Saskatchewan residents have died due to COVID-19.
The 3,635 tests done in the province Thursday hiked the total so far to 624,171.
The 108 recoveries reported increased that total to date to 29,500. There are 1,345 active cases being reported, with 583 of those in the Regina area.
There are 27 people in intensive care units in the province, with 13 in the Regina region, 10 in the Saskatoon area, three in the central-east region and one in the south-central zone.
In total, there are 133 people in Saskatchewan hospitals.
Vaccination update
The province set a single-day record for COVID vaccinations Thursday, when 6,867 doses were given.
The total number of shots given in the province rose to 125,062.
The doses delivered Thursday featured 3,307 in the Regina region — including 2,107 at the AstraZeneca drive-through clinic at Evraz Place — and 639 in the Saskatoon zone.
The drive-through clinic in Regina is accepting all people in their 60s.
People aged 67 and over can book their COVID vaccination appointments online or by phone (1-833-727-5829). As of Thursday, 84,333 appointments had been booked using the system — 63,295 online and 21,038 by telephone.