REGINA -- The Saskatchewan government recorded 178 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, along with 293 recoveries and two additional deaths.

One person who died was in their 50s and from the Southeast zone; the second person was older than 80 and in the South Central zone.

The new cases are in the Far Northwest (seven), Northwest (16), North Central (five), Northeast (one), Saskatoon (55), Central West (one), Central East (21), Regina (42), Southwest (eight), South Central (-10) and South East (nine) zones. There are three new cases are pending residence information.

 

There are 142 people in hospital across the province, 27 of those people are receiving intensive care. COVID-19 patients are in the ICU in the Northwest (one), North Central (one), Saskatoon (nine), Central East (one), Regina (15) zones.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 195. There are 1,965 active cases of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan, the lowest

VACCINES

Healthcare workers administered 12,173 doses of COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, which pushed the province past the 600,000 mark. So far, 603,125 shots have been given in the province and 48,812 people are fully vaccinated against the virus.

 

As on Monday, 67 per cent of residents age 30 and older have received their first dose.

Vaccine eligibility dropped to age 20 and older Sunday, and will drop to 16 and older Tuesday. Eligibility will remain at age 18 and older in the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District.

Second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are now available for Saskatchewan residents over 85 years-old and those who had their first dose before Feb. 15. Residents with specific medical conditions or requirements are also eligible for their second shot.

 

VARIANTS OF CONCERN

Labs identified an additional 128 COVID-19 cases to be variants of concern (VoC), according to the province.

The government did not report any new lineage results Monday. Of the 4,443 variant cases that have been whole genome sequenced, 4,341 are confirmed to be the B.1.1.1.7 variant first seen in the U.K.; 87 are P.1, which was first identified in Brazil; 10 are B.1.351, the variant first seen in South Africa; and five are B.1.617, the newly identified variant first found in India.\