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Saskatchewan continues to close in on 70,000 COVID-19 vaccinations.
In a media release Friday, the Ministry of Health said 3,545 shots were given Thursday, increasing the provincial total to date to 69,451.
The ministry also reported 153 new cases and 136 recoveries. There weren’t any deaths to report.
Vaccination update
The doses given Thursday were in the northwest (1,051), Regina (610), southwest (587), central-west (560), Saskatoon (330), north-central (205), southeast (191) and central-east (11) zones.
Updated data from Wednesday added 515 doses in the southwest zone, 91 in the southeast, 81 in the central-west area and 10 in the far northwest.
Meanwhile, Health Canada’s approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine was greeted with approval by the Saskatchewan government.
However, the province said it won’t know what impact the newest vaccine would have on plans in the province until more information is provided about when the doses will arrive and in what quantity.
The ministry noted Saskatchewan — based on per-capita estimates — should receive about 15,000 doses of the 500,000 AstraZeneca doses Canada expects to receive in March.
“We can begin preliminary planning based around what we know about this vaccine: It is for people 18 years and over, requires two doses, and is easier to transport and store since it only needs to be kept in a refrigerator,” the ministry said in a statement.
“These considerations, in addition to delivery timelines and quantities, will be necessary when integrating the AstraZeneca vaccine into our current plans.”
A look at the numbers
The new cases reported Friday increased the province’s total to 28,344 since last March.
The latest cases were recorded in the Regina (50), far northwest (31), Saskatoon (18), central-east (17), northwest (11), far northeast (eight), north-central (five), south-central (five), northeast (three) and central-west (one) zones.
The hometowns of four cases are being determined.
The seven-day average of daily new cases is 156, or 12.8 per 100,000 population.
Since March, there have been 26,454 recoveries reported and 380 deaths. The active caseload stands at 1,510.
The number of people hospitalized due to COVID in the province fell to 155, down one from Thursday’s update. There are 16 people in intensive care, with seven in the Saskatoon zone, six in the Regina region, two in the northwest area and one in the north-central zone.
The total number of cases includes 1,826 health-care workers. That number was 723 on Dec. 31.
To date, 10,235 of the cases have been in the 20-to-39 age group, 7,092 have been between the ages of 40 and 59, 6,429 have been individuals 19 and under, 3,424 have been ages 60 to 79, and 1,143 have been in the 80-and-over age group. The ages of 21 cases are unknown.
The total comprises 7,308 cases from the north, 7,297 from the Saskatoon area, 5,473 from the Regina region, 4,009 in the far north, 2,494 in the south, and 1,694 from the central zone. There are 69 cases with pending residence information.
The 3,079 tests processed in the province on Thursday hiked the province’s total to date to 571,393.