Latest COVID update Jan. 14: 1,412 new cases, 10,325 active cases

The number of people with COVID-19 in Saskatchewan hospitals rose Friday, when the province again set records for daily and active cases.

The Ministry of Health’s update said there were 1,412 new cases, breaking the previous record of 1,170 set Jan. 7. And the number of active cases increased to 10,325, the first time it has been over 10,000 in Saskatchewan since the pandemic started.

The ministry said there were 131 people with COVID in hospital, an increase of eight from Thursday’s total. The number of people getting inpatient treatment for the virus in the Saskatoon region increased by 12, to 69.

Of the 123 inpatient hospitalizations reported in Saskatchewan on Friday, 59 were due to COVID, 46 were incidental and 18 had not yet been determined.

However, the number of ICU cases in the province dropped to eight, the lowest that number has been since it was six on July 11.

Five of the eight ICU admissions were due to COVID.

According to the ministry, 56 of the 131 COVID patients in hospital weren’t fully vaccinated.

In new modelling data released Friday, the Public Health Agency of Canada warned that while the Omicron variant isn’t producing as many severe outcomes, “record high infection rates are expected to substantially strain health-care capacity.”

The Saskatchewan government has said it will be watching hospitalization and ICU numbers instead of case totals to determine its future actions.

There weren’t any deaths announced by the province Friday, the eighth straight day there haven’t been any COVID-related fatalities reported. To date, 961 Saskatchewan residents have died as a result of the virus.

A look at the numbers

The new cases reported Friday were in the Regina (334), Saskatoon (334), southeast (168), central-east (92), south-central (76), north-central (62), northwest (53), southwest (44), northeast (36), far northwest (27), central-west (20) and far northeast (18) zones.

The hometowns of 148 cases were pending.

The new cases in the southeast region were detected among 361 tests, meaning 46.5 per cent of tests done by health officials in that zone returned a positive result. The Regina (42.4 per cent) and Saskatoon (36.8) regions also had high rates.

The seven-day average of new cases in the province increased to 1,093, or 90.7 per 100,000 people.

To date, 97,545 cases have been reported in the province along with 86,259 recoveries.

The 2,676 doses of COVID vaccine administered in the province Thursday included 1,080 first shots and 1,596 second jabs.

To date, 1,826,474 shots have been given, including 874,329 second shots.