Sask. confirms 106 COVID-19 cases, 1 death
The Government of Saskatchewan reported 106 new COVID-19 cases, one death and 135 recoveries on Saturday.
The province’s 555th death was a person in the 80-plus age group from the North West zone.
There are 874 cases considered active in Saskatchewan.
A total of 96 people are in hospital related to COVID-19, including 17 people in intensive care.
New cases are located in the Far North West (three), Far North East (one), North West (19), North Central (17), North East (two), Saskatoon (29), Central West (five), Central East (three), Regina (10), South West (three), South Central (eight) and South East (four) zones. Two cases are pending residence information.
Five cases from Saskatchewan residents tested out-of-province were added to the Far North East Zone.
Saskatchewan’s seven-day average for daily new cases is 79, or 6.5 per 100,000 population.
There were 2,159 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on Friday.
VACCINES
Saskatchewan reported an additional 18,014 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered, bringing the provincial total to 878,665.
As of Saturday, 68 per cent of those 18 and older and 66 per cent of those 12 and older have received their first dose.
VARIANTS OF CONCERN
The province has identified 11,664 Variants of Concern (VOC), up 160 from Friday’s total.
No new lineage results were reported Saturday.
To date, labs have confirmed the variant type of 6,199 variant cases through whole genome sequencing. The dominant variant type in Saskatchewan continues to be the Alpha variant – also known as the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the U.K. To date, 5,932 Alpha variant cases have been confirmed across the province.
UPDATE TO SECOND DOSE SCHEDULE
The province announced an accelerated second dose schedule Friday. Everyone age 12 and older will be eligible to get their second dose by the end of June.
The government attributes the accelerated schedule to the increase in expected deliveries of the Moderna vaccine. The schedule may continue to change due to vaccine availability.
