Detected Delta variant cases have more than doubled in Sask. over past month

REGINA -

The number of Delta variant cases detected in Saskatchewan has more than doubled over the past month.

On July 21, 505 of the 7,961 variant cases with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing were Delta. As of Saturday, the Delta case count has risen to 1,224, according to data from the Government of Saskatchewan.

Of the 823 variant cases identified in the past month, 719, or 87 per cent, are Delta variants. In that same time period, Saskatchewan added 72 Alpha and 32 Gamma variant cases.

The Government of Saskatchewan reported an additional 187 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday.

New cases are located in the Far North West (six), Far North Central (two), Far North East (14), North West (12), North Central (16), North East (22), Saskatoon (37), Central West (one), Central East (11), Regina (22), South West (nine), South Central (three), and South East (six) zones. Twenty-six new cases are pending residence information.

The province said more than one third (35.8 per cent) of Saturday’s new cases are in the 20 to 39 age group.

A total of 1,478 cases are considered active.

There are 89 people in hospital related to COVID-19, including 15 patients in intensive care.

The seven-day average of daily new COVID-19 cases is 155, or 12.9 per 100,000 population.

Saskatchewan health care workers have administered 1,458,806 doses of COVID-19 vaccine – up 4,064 from Friday. There are 684,023 residents fully vaccinated.

The province has detected 12,430 variants of concern. Of the 8,784 variants detected by screening, 7,099 are Alpha (B.1.1.7), 1,224 are Delta (B.1.617.2), 451 are Gamma (P.1), and 10 are Beta (B.1.351).