Saskatchewan reported another 26 cases of COVID-19 variants Wednesday.
All of them were reported in the Regina zone by the Ministry of Health.
The total number of variant cases in the province now stands at 70 — 64 of the United Kingdom variant and six of the mutation first found in South Africa.
The latest cases, all of which were the U.K. variant, were detected by the National Microbiology Laboratory on samples collected between Feb. 12 and 20, and from the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory on cases confirmed between Feb. 2 and 28.
The Ministry of Health also reported 111 new cases of COVID-19, 140 more recoveries and one more death.
A person in the 80-and-over age group who lived in the Regina zone died due to COVID. The death toll in Saskatchewan due to the virus is now 401.
Saskatchewan has reported 30,029 cases since the pandemic began last March.
The latest cases were found in the Regina (41), Saskatoon (26), northwest (11), northeast (eight), central-east (eight), far northeast (four) and far northwest (three) zones. The hometowns of 10 cases are pending.
The seven-day average of daily new cases is 139, or 11.4 per 100,000 population.
Since the end of February, there have been 450 new cases in the Regina region — far and away the highest-such number in the province. The Saskatoon zone was next at 293, followed by the far north (240), the north (236), the central zone (106) and the south (56).
To date in the province, there have been 28,244 recoveries. The active caseload fell Wednesday to 1,384, the first time it has been under 1,400 since Nov. 11.
The 139 hospitalizations in the province include 27 intensive care cases, with 12 in each of the Regina and Saskatoon regions, two in the central-east zone and one in the northwest.
There were 2,399 COVID tests processed in Saskatchewan on Tuesday, increasing the province’s total to date to 600,142.
Vaccination update
There were 874 vaccinations reported in the province on Tuesday, increasing the total in Saskatchewan to date to 94,386.
The latest shots were given in the north-central (456), northwest (228), Saskatoon (141) and Regina (49) areas.
As of Wednesday, 53 per cent of Phase 1 health-care workers — including staff in long-term care and personal care homes — had received their first doses.