REGINA -- The Saskatchewan government reported 193 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, along with 222 recoveries and one death.

The person who died was in their 70s and from the Southeast zone.

The new cases are in the Far Northwest (five), Northwest (20), North Central (two), Northeast (two), Saskatoon (40), Central East (13), Regina (66), Southwest (eight), South Central (nine) and Southeast (17) zones. Eleven new cases are pending residence information.

 

There are 203 COVID-19 patients in hospital across the province; 41 people are in the ICU. Those receiving intensive care are in the North Central (one), Saskatoon (eight), Central East (two), Regina (27), Southwest (one) and South Central (two) zones.

The seven-day average of new daily cases is 271, which is the highest the province has seen since then end of January.

There were 3,258 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on Tuesday.

VARIANTS OF CONCERN

The province also identified 88 more variant cases. As of Wednesday, 3,901 variants of concern (VoC) have been identified in Saskatchewan.

VoC have been identified in the in the Far Northwest (nine), Far Northeast (two), Northwest (40), North Central (46), Northeast (three), Saskatoon (328), Central West (29), Central East (121), Regina (2,532), Southwest (48), South Central (333) and Southeast (378) zones.

As of Wednesday, 1,426 VoC have been confirmed as B.1.1.7, which was first identified in the U.K. Nine have been confirmed to be B.1.3.5.1, which was the variant first identified in South Africa.

VACCINES

There were 8,682 doses of COVID-19 administered in the Far Northwest (59), Far Northeast (36), Northwest (451), North Central (686), Northeast (105), Saskatoon (1,944), Central West (758), Central East (657), Regina (2,473), Southwest (366), South Central (517) and Southeast (369) zones on Wednesday. There were 261 doses administered where the zone of residence is pending.

 

So far, 307,449 doses have been administered in the province.

According to the province, it is preparing to offer COVID-19 vaccines in pharmacies. There will be a small-scale pharmacy vaccination pilot-project in late April, Appointments at pharmacies are not yet available.