3 COVID-19 deaths reported in Saskatchewan's final weekly update

Three more COVID-19 related deaths were reported in Saskatchewan for the week of June 19-25 as the province now moves from weekly updates to monthly ones.

The province said the next update will be a three week report and will be released on July 21.

It will cover June 26 to July 16.

The first full monthly report will be released on Aug. 18, according to the province.

“The Ministry and health sector partners will continue to monitor COVID-19 surveillance data and the frequency of reporting may be adjusted in the future based on observed trends,” the provincial government said in a release.

It the latest update there were 208 new laboratory-confirmed cases, which the province said reflects 4.5 tests performed per 1,000 population.

The majority of laboratory-confirmed cases this week continue to be 50 years and older (57.2 per cent), the province said.

“There were 168 new lineage results reported this week. Of the 168 variants of concern identified by whole genome sequencing, 100 per cent were Omicron. The Omicron BA.2 sublineage accounted for 95.2 per cent of the variants of concern reported the week of June 19 to 25, 2022. BA.2 sublineage is more transmissible compared to pre-variant 2020 COVID-19 and BA.1 sub-lineages but there is no current evidence of increased severity. BA.5 sublineage detections accounted for 3.6 per cent this week,” a release from the province also said.

A total of 119 people are in hospitals around Saskatchewan, 30 are for a COVID-19 related illness, 79 had an incidental infection and 10 remain under investigation.

Four people are in ICUs.