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Nearly one-third of the new COVID-19 cases reported in Saskatchewan on Tuesday were people who were fully vaccinated.
In its daily update, the Ministry of Health said 35 of the 107 new cases had received two doses of a COVID vaccine. There also were 68 cases among those who weren’t vaccinated and four cases involving people who were partially vaccinated.
The 107 cases were the fewest in a day since Aug. 17, when there also were 107 cases. The latest cases were detected in 1,528 tests, for a test positivity rate of 7.0.
The ministry also reported 225 recoveries and five deaths.
The latest fatalities due to COVID comprised two people from each of the 60-to-79 and 80-and-over age groups and one person from the 40-to-59 age range.
There was one death reported in each of the Regina, Saskatoon, northwest, central-east and southeast regions. The province’s total number of COVID-related fatalities to date is 859.
As of Monday, Saskatchewan’s rate of deaths over the past 14 days was the highest in the country, at 5.8. The Northwest Territories had the second-highest rate at 4.4.
The province also reported 222 COVID patients were in hospital, with 48 of those in intensive care.
A look at the numbers
The new cases were reported in the Saskatoon (29), Regina (22), northwest (12), central-east (11), far northwest (nine), south-central (four), far northeast (three), southeast (three), north-central (two), northeast (two) and central-west (one) zones.
There are nine cases whose hometowns are still being determined.
The seven-day average of new cases dropped to 185, or 15.4 cases per 100,000 people.
To date, there have been 77,902 cases reported in the province and 75,214 recoveries. The active caseload fell to 1,829, its lowest level since it was 1,753 on Aug. 27.
There were 940 doses of COVID vaccine administered in the province, with 672 of those second shots. To date, 1.67 million shots have been given in Saskatchewan, and 798,369 people have received two doses.
Hospitalizations
During a technical briefing Tuesday, Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency president Marlo Pritchard said there were 48 COVID patients in intensive care and 49 non-COVID patients in ICU.
The number of COVID-related ICU admissions has dropped from a high of 85 on Oct. 18 — although 26 ICU patients were transferred to Ontario.
Scott Livingstone, the CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, said the drop in the number has helped the province’s health-care system, but there’s still stress.
“The number of non-COVID patients is still matching that number, which is putting pressure on our teams but also at the same time it’s allowing us to move forward with critical-care surgeries that require ICU beds,” Livingstone said.
“I don’t believe we’ve seen the stabilization of the hospitalization numbers yet, particularly in ICU, but it is a trailing number (to cases) and we should start seeing those results over the next few weeks.”
Pritchard said one Saskatchewan patient who had been transferred to Ontario was returned to this province on Friday, with another expected to return Tuesday.
Public health orders
The provincial government said a number of fines had been levied for failing to abide by public health orders.
Two individual fines of $2,800 were issued at Tobin Lake for failing to wear a mask and one corporate ticket was issued to the Shorebird Inn at Tobin Lake for failing to screen for proof of vaccination or negative test.
“The voluntary payment option for the $14,000 corporate fine will not be available for this fine,” the government said. “As this recipient has had previous tickets, a court appearance is required to speak to the charge.”
Scott’s Fine Foods in Leader and The Beacon in Caronport each received a fine of $14,000 for failing to screen for proof of vaccination or negative test.