51 new COVID-19 cases in Sask.; 2 deaths

REGINA -

The Saskatchewan government reported 51 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, along with 25 recoveries and two additional deaths.

One person who died was in their 50s and from Regina; the second person was in their 60s and from the Northeast zone. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 577 people in Saskatchewan have died as a result of COVID-19.

The new cases are in the Far Northwest (10); Far North Central (eight); Far Northeast (eight); Northwest (seven); Northeast (one); Saskatoon (three); Central East (three); Regina (five); South Central (one); and Southeast (two) zones. The government said three cases are pending residence information.

There were 1,654 COVID-19 tests processed on Thursday. There are 312 active cases in the province Friday. The seven-day average of daily new cases is 34, up from 26 one week ago.

VACCINATIONS

The province said health-care workers have given 8,204 additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

Seventy-four per cent of residents age 12 and older have received their first dose and 61 per cent are fully vaccinated.

VARIANTS OF CONCERN

The province said labs have identified a total of 12,333 COVID-19 cases to be variants of concern through screening. Of those cases, 7,961 have been whole genome sequenced; 7,027 are Alpha (B.1.1.7), 505 are Delta (B.1.617.2), 419 are Gamma (P.1), and 10 are Beta (B.1.351).