Rent reduced for riders, early budget items approved by Regina Council
3h ago
Regina's city council covered a lot of ground in a three-hour meeting on Wednesday. With all members in attendance, coun...
The Saskatchewan government has added 241 previously missing cases of COVID-19 to the province’s total.
As a result, the Ministry of Health reported 650 new cases Thursday, which would be the highest total reported in a day in Saskatchewan since the pandemic began. The provincial total climbed to 70,457.
“The Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory (RRPL) has determined that results from a number of specimens tested for COVID-19 were not entered into the provincial COVID-19 database,” the ministry said in a media release.
“After an investigation, it was determined 2,777 tests were not entered in September, including 241 positive tests. Note that these issues did not affect the notification of positive results to tested individuals.”
The government said results of some tests dating back to Sept. 22 hadn’t been entered. The Saskatchewan Health Authority said it would be “examining processes to see what additional checks and balances can be put in place to prevent a future data backlog.”
Nearly a quarter of the new cases reported Thursday were children under the age of 11, the group that can’t currently be vaccinated.
There were 154 cases among that age group, with 86 in the 12-to-19 group, 65 in the 20-to-29 category, 56 in the 30-to-39 group and 49 in the 40-to-49 age range.
The 650 cases also included 128 people who were considered fully vaccinated and 39 among those who were partially vaccinated.
Four more deaths were reported, comprising three people between the ages of 60 and 79 and one person in the 80-and-over age group.
The latest fatalities included one person from each of the far north-central, northeast, southwest and south-central zones.
As of Thursday, 737 Saskatchewan residents have died due to COVID since the pandemic began.
A look at the numbers
The new infections were reported in the northwest (141), Regina (97), Saskatoon (82), southeast (63), north-central (53), central-east (50), far northeast (31), far northwest (23), southwest (19), northeast (18), south-central (17) and central-west (16) zones. Forty other cases need to have their hometowns determined.
The seven-day average of new COVID cases stands at 446.
The number of hospitalizations fell by eight from Wednesday’s report, to 348, but ICU admissions climbed to a record high of 78. The previous mark of 76 was set Wednesday.
According to the government, 266 of the COVID patients in Saskatchewan hospitals weren’t fully vaccinated.
The 393 recoveries reported Thursday increased that total so far to 65,156. The number of active cases rose by 251 to 4,564, with 1,029 of those in the Saskatoon region and 684 in the Regina area.
There were 4,449 doses of COVID vaccine administered in the province, including 2,425 first shots and 2,024 second doses.
To date, more than 1.58 million shots have been given and 747,016 people are considered fully vaccinated.