REGINA -- The Saskatchewan government reported 183 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, along with 238 recoveries and two more deaths.

The two people who died were both in their 70s and from the North Central and Central East zones. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 508 people in the province have died as a result of COVID-19.

The new cases are in the Far Northwest (four), Northwest (26), North Central (seven), Northeast (one), Saskatoon (52), Central West (two), Central East (15), Regina (41), Southwest (three), South Central (seven) and Southeast (23) zones. There are two new cases pending residence information.

Active cases in Regina and Saskatoon continue to head in opposite directions – there are 522 active cases in Saskatoon and 460 in Regina.

 

There are 163 people in hospital across the province; 37 of those people are receiving intensive care. COVID-19 patients are in the ICU in the Northwest (one), North Central (one) Saskatoon (13), Central East (two), Regina (19), Southwest (one) zones.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 203 – the lowest it has been since the end of March.

There are 2,016 active cases of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan.

VACCINES

The province said there were 6,373 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered Tuesday. So far, 537,044 shots have been given in the province and 46,700 people are fully vaccinated against the virus.

As on Tuesday, 62 per cent of residents age 30 and older have received their first dose.

 

Vaccine eligibility dropped to age 26 and older Wednesday morning. Eligibility remained at age 18 and older in the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District.

VARIANTS OF CONCERN

Labs have identified an additional 114 COVID-19 cases to be variants of concern (VoC), according to the province.

The government reported two new lineage results Friday. Of the 3,498 variant cases that have been whole genome sequenced, 3,438 are confirmed to be the B.1.1.1.7 variant first seen in the U.K.; 51 are P.1, which was first identified in Brazil; and nine are B.1.351, the variant first seen in South Africa.