Active COVID-19 cases in Sask. nearly double in last 10 days

REGINA -

Active COVID-19 cases across Saskatchewan rose to 448 Friday, which is the highest number since the province dropped all public health measures on July 11 and 206 more than the province had 10 days ago.

The government reported 56 new COVID-19 cases on Friday. The confirmed cases are in the Far Northwest (eight); Far North Central (one); Far Northeast (11); Northwest (two); North Central (two); Central West (four); Saskatoon (13); Regina (two); South Central (two) and Southeast (one) zones. Five cases are pending residence information.

Forty-six per cent of active cases and 36 per cent of new COVID-19 cases are in the Far North zones.

According to the province, there were 1,779 COVID-19 tests processed on Thursday. The seven-day average of daily new cases is 45 – up from 27 ten days ago.

There are 46 COVID-19 patients are in hospital; 12 are in ICU in the North Central (one); Saskatoon (six); and Regina (five) zones.

VACCINATIONS

The province said health-care workers have administered an additional 5,345 vaccines since the last update. Of those doses, 4,263 were second shots and 1,082 were first.

As of Friday, 75 per cent of residents age 12 and older have their first dose and 63 per cent are fully vaccinated.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said the August long weekend is the last opportunity for children between the ages of 12 and 17 to get their first dose if they want to be fully immunized before school starts.

According to public health, children should get the shot by Aug. 1, then wait the minimum 28 days to get the second. The SHA noted it takes around two weeks for the second dose to be fully effective.

VARIANTS OF CONCERN

The government said a total of 12,353 COVID-19 cases have been identified as variants of concern. Of those cases, 8,050 have been whole genome sequenced; 7,041 are Alpha (B.1.1.7), 573 are Delta (B.1.617.2), 426 are Gamma (P.1), and 10 are Beta (B.1.351).