Latest COVID update March 24: 1 death, 190 new cases, 96 recoveries

Sparked by a recent rise in cases in the Regina region, the seven-day average of daily new COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan has climbed to more than 14 per 100,000 population.

The provincial government reported 190 new cases Wednesday, 116 of which were in the Regina region. That hiked the daily average to 14.1, up from 10.5 on Friday.

The total number of cases in Saskatchewan since last March now stands at 32,181.

The other new cases reported Wednesday were in the Saskatoon (26), northwest (10), southeast (nine), far northwest (seven), central-east (five), northeast (four), north-central (two), south-central (two), far northeast (one) and southwest (one) zones.

The hometowns of seven new cases are pending.

A person in the 80-and-over age group from the northwest zone is the 420th person in the province to die due to COVID.

There were 96 recoveries reported Wednesday, increasing that total so far to 30,196. The active caseload rose to 1,565 — more than half of which (844) were in the Regina area.

There are 147 people in Saskatchewan hospitals, including 22 in intensive care units. The ICU cases are in the Regina (11), Saskatoon (eight), central-east (two) and south-central (one) regions.

There were 3,775 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on Tuesday, increasing the provincial total to date to 640,259.

Variants of concern

As of Tuesday, 954 cases of variants of concern had been identified by screening in Saskatchewan. Of those, 824 are in the Regina region.

The others are in the south-central (56), southeast (45), Saskatoon (18), central-east (10) and far northeast (one) zones.

The Regina region also accounts for 313 of the 360 variant cases with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan. There are 352 cases of the United Kingdom variant and eight of the South African strain in the province.

Vaccination update

Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine for Regina (15,210 doses) and Saskatoon (17,550) arrived Tuesday, with a shipment for Yorkton (3,510 doses) expected to arrive by the end of day Wednesday.

A Moderna shipment (24,200 doses) is expected to arrive in the province Thursday.

The 2,298 doses given in Saskatchewan on Tuesday increased the total administered in the province so far to 151,507.

The shots given Tuesday were in the Regina (1,177), Saskatoon (953), far northwest (274), central-east (147), central-west (119), southeast (103), northeast (101) and far northeast (66) areas.

The southeast zone also reported a data correction to remove 642 previously reported vaccinations.

To date, 68 per cent of Saskatchewan residents aged 80 and over and 30 per cent of Saskatchewan residents in their 70s have received their first doses.

According to the provincial government, 100 per cent of residents of personal care homes have received their first doses and 55 per cent have received both doses. As well, 90 per cent of residents in long-term care homes have received their first doses and 62 per cent have got both doses.

More than 23,000 of the 40,500 Phase 1 health-care workers who were eligible to get vaccinated have received their first doses and 14,605 have received both doses.