COVID-19 cases rising steadily in Sask. with 418 reported Friday

REGINA -

The Government of Saskatchewan reported 418 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, marking the province’s largest single-day increase since December 2020.

Saskatchewan last confirmed a single-day total above 418 when it added 419 new cases on December 6, 2020, according to data from the province’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Of the 418 new cases, 341, or 82 per cent, are in unvaccinated people. Another 22 are in partially vaccinated people, while 55 are in fully vaccinated.

The new cases are located in the Far North West (20), Far North East (15), North West (50), North Central (47), North East (21), Saskatoon (131), Central West (23), Central East (11), Regina (23), South West (10), South Central (nine) and South East (13) zones.

Another 45 new cases are pending residence information.

The province said 34.9 per cent of new cases are in the 19 and under age group.

Total active cases now sit at 2,755. The Saskatoon zone leads the province with 811 active cases, while Regina sits at 149. Other active case hotspots in the province include the Far North East (302), North West (340) and North Central (407) zones.

The province also reported two more deaths on Friday, located in the North East zone.

There are 135 people currently hospitalized related to COVID-19, including 23 patients in intensive care.

The seven-day average of daily new COVID-19 cases is 302, or 25.1 per 100,000 population.

Saskatchewan health care workers have administered 1,483,812 doses of COVID-19 vaccines. There are 699,113 fully vaccinated residents.

The government said a total of 12,459 COVID-19 cases have been identified as variants of concern. Of those cases, 9,697 have been whole genome sequenced; 7,121 are Alpha (B.1.1.7), 2,095 are Delta (B.1.617.2), 471 are Gamma (P.1), and 10 are Beta (B.1.351).