Sask. sets COVID-19 hospitalization record for 5th day in a row; 460 new cases reported

REGINA -

Saskatchewan broke COVID-19 hospitalization records again on Thursday, reporting 273 patients in hospital with 58 in intensive care.

This is the fifth day in a row the province has recorded record high COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Speaking to the media Thursday, Saskatchewan Health Authority officials said they are bracing for further increases in hospitalization totals in the coming weeks.

The province also added 460 new confirmed cases. Of the new cases, 381 are in unvaccinated people, while 22 were partially vaccinated and 57 were fully vaccinated.

There were 111 new cases reported in the 0-11 age group. Children under the age of 12 are not currently eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Seven more residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19. The deaths included three people in the 60 to 79 age group and four people 80 years and older. A total of 658 Saskatchewan residents have died due to COVID-19.

The new cases are located in the Far North West (eight), Far North Central (five), Far North East (10), North West (53), North Central (36), North East (eight), Saskatoon (123), Central West (six), Central East (28), Regina (59), South West (38), South Central (18), South East (47) zones. An additional 21 new cases are pending residence information.

There are 4,715 cases considered active. The Saskatoon zone continues to lead the province with 1100 active cases. Regina reported 517 active cases on Thursday, more than doubling its total from the 254 confirmed one week ago.

The province is climbing closer to its all-time record number of active cases of 4,763, set on Dec. 7, 2020.

Saskatchewan’s seven day average of daily new COVID-19 cases is 470, or 39 per 100,000 population.

Health care workers administered 4,933 more doses of COVID-19 vaccines. There are 723,081 residents fully vaccinated.