As the province steps up vaccinations, another seven people have died after contracting COVID-19.
In its daily update, the Saskatchewan government confirmed that four people in the Regina zone have passed away — one in the 60-to-69 age range, two in the 70-to-79 age range, and one in the 80-and-over age range. Two deaths were reported in the southeast — one in each of the 30-to-39 and 80-and-over age groups — and one death in the 80-and-over age range was recorded in the north-central region.
This brings the total number of COVID-related deaths in Saskatchewan since March to 184.
It was another day of increased new case numbers, with 336 new positive diagnoses reported in the Saskatoon (57), Regina (56), far northeast (52), northwest (46), north-central (41), far northwest (20), southeast (17), central-east (nine), south-central (six), central-west (six), far north-central (four), northeast (three) and southwest (two) zones. Another 17 cases have not yet seen residence information determined.
A backlog of 72 cases with unknown residence locations has been cleared, allocated to the far northeast (21), north-central (21), northwest (20), far northwest (five), Saskatoon (two), Regina (one) and southeast (one) zones.
The seven-day average of new cases has increased again, from 254 up to 262.
The number of current active cases has risen to 3,053; 223 new recoveries increases the total number of people who have recovered from COVID to 14,237.
While the provincial health minister and Health Canada continue to disagree about how much vaccine is provided to the province and what rules are placed on them, Thursday saw the largest number of vaccines administered in Saskatchewan to date, with nearly 1,200 injections taking place. A total of 6,015 vaccinations have occurred.
There are 180 people in the hospital, with 26 in intensive care units in the Regina (11), Saskatoon (eight), north-central (four), northwest (two), and central-east (one) regions.
Other hospitalizations are found in Saskatoon (50), Regina (39), north-central (30), northwest (11), southeast (nine), central-east (eight), northeast (three), south-central (two), far north-central (one), and far northeast (one) areas.
After some lower recent testing numbers, the province reported that 3,105 tests were processed on Thursday. That’s significantly closer to the government’s stated goal of 4,000 tests per day.