Gathering restrictions under consideration in Sask. amid Omicron concerns, premier says

Restrictions on large gatherings could be introduced in the next week in Saskatchewan, according to Premier Scott Moe.

In a video posted to his Twitter page, Moe said officials are tracking the spread of the Omicron variant closely.

“We have not ruled out some additional measures around large gathering sizes potentially being introduced in the next week,” Moe said in the video.

Saskatchewan reported its highest single-day increase in new COVID-19 cases since Oct. 27 with 194 Thursday and 52 previously reported cases were discovered to be the Omicron variant. There have been 148 cases of Omicron reported in Saskatchewan to date, 27 of those are confirmed and 121 are considered probable cases.

Moe said cases of Omicron in Saskatchewan have been “milder” than earlier COVID-19 variants. As new cases begin to rise, COVID-19 hospitalizations are at their lowest level since August. Moe said if hospitalizations don’t increase with new cases, the province would like to avoid further measures.

• U.K. data suggest hospitalization is less likely with Omicron

“Case counts are definitely rising, and they will continue to rise in the days ahead,” Moe said. “However, if serious cases and hospitalization remain manageable we don’t want to go back to shutting down activities, restrictions businesses in our communities and taking away your personal freedoms.”

The Government of Saskatchewan’s COVID-19 dashboard will not be updated from Dec. 24 to Dec. 27. The next update of COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations will be on Dec. 28.

“We should be concerned about Omicron, but not panicked,” Moe said. “We can do the things we enjoy if we’re careful, and do a few simple things differently.”