REGINA -- Sask. reports 328 new COVID-19 cases, 7 deaths
Saskatchewan added 328 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, along with seven deaths and 300 recoveries.
One person in their 50s died in the Northeast; three people in their 70s died, they were from the Northwest zone, Regina and Saskatoon; and three people in their 80s died, one was from the Northwest zone and two were from Regina.
So far, 292 people in Saskatchewan have died from the virus.
The new cases are in the Far Northwest (30), Far North Central (3), Far Northeast (16), Northwest (27), North Central (26), Northeast (13), Saskatoon (90), Central West (9), Central East (25), Regina (58), South West (1), South Central (3) and Southeast (19) zones.
A total of 20,575 people have recovered and there are 2,499 active cases in the province.
Today’s cases pushed Saskatchewan’s seven-day average of new daily cases slightly higher, moving from 244 on Thursday to 247 on Friday.
VACCINATIONS
There were 308 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered on Thursday.
The shots were given in the Far North Central (33), Saskatoon (233), Central East (22) and Southeast (20) zones.
According to the government, zero doses of the vaccine have been administered in the Central West, Southwest and South Central zones so far.
The province said vaccine distribution schedules will be adjusted to account for a reduction in deliveries of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine over the next month.
SASK. TOLD TO EXPECT FEW PFIZER DOSES
The federal government has reduced Saskatchewan’s Pfizer vaccine allocation for the first quarter of 2021.
The province said on Thursday afternoon it was told to now expect 112,125 Pfizer doses instead of 124,800.
The rollback is the result of a back and forth between Pfizer and Health Canada. The vaccine producer expects Canada to pull six doses out of each vial, instead of five. Canada’s public health body is reviewing a request to change the label to indicate six doses can be drawn from a vial – and if Canada has a sufficient supply of special syringes needed to extract the sixth dose.
Premier Scott Moe expressed his frustration with the feds on Thursday morning, tweeting that he is not getting “accurate information” from Ottawa, and writing that the federal government told the provinces Pfizer shipments to Ottawa will be cut from 4 million to 3.5 million doses for the first quarter. Moe said every province will see its allocation reduced.
