Latest COVID update March 12: Variants spread in Regina, prompting warning from gov’t

Regina continues to be the hub for the spread of more contagious COVID-19 variants.

In a news release Friday, the Ministry of Health reported there are another 77 presumptive positive variant cases in the Regina area.

Previously, the government said 62 of 70 confirmed variant cases in Saskatchewan were in the Regina area.

“Public health will be closely monitoring the situation regarding transmission of (variants of concern) for the next two to three days and will be taking additional public health measures if the numbers of confirmed positive cases of Variants of Concern do not start to decline,” the ministry warned.

Out of the provincial total of confirmed variants, 64 are the mutation that came from the United Kingdom, while the other six are the South African strain.

Because of the increased spread of new variants in the province’s capital, the government is reminding people to follow guidelines aimed at cutting back transmission of the virus.

It recommends people in Regina stay home and get tested if they have even mild symptoms, and limit travel and shopping to essential trips only. It also suggested people 50 or older only interact with people from their own household.

A look at the numbers

There have been three new deaths related to the virus in Saskatchewan.

The ministry reported Friday that two people from the 70-to-79 age group — one each from the Regina and south-central areas — died due to COVID. The third death was someone their 50s from the Saskatoon zone.

Active cases also rose.

There were 176 new cases and 131 recoveries, raising the active total to 1,437.

Regina continues to lead the province in transmission.

The new cases are located in the Regina (67), Saskatoon (31), central-east (18), northwest (16), north-central (11), far northeast (10), northeast (eight), southwest (three), south-central (two), southeast (two), far northwest (one) and far north-central (one) zones.

Two previously reported cases were assigned to the Regina area, while the location is still being investigated for six other new cases.

The seven-day average of daily new cases now stands at 134, or 11 cases per 100,000 people. That is the lowest average since Nov. 13.

There are 129 people in hospital. Of those, 27 are in intensive care in the Saskatoon (13), Regina (10), central-east (two), northwest (one) and north-central (one) areas.

The other 102 people in inpatient care are in the Saskatoon (43), Regina (32), far northwest (two), far northeast (one), northwest (10), north-central (six), central-east (five), south-central (one) and southeast (two) zones.

There were 2,990 COVID tests performed in the province Friday, raising that total to 605,982.

Vaccination update

The number of vaccine doses in Saskatchewan continues to creep towards the 100,000 mark.

The latest update reported that 2,692 new doses had been given in the province, raising the total so far to 98,571.

Those new doses were given in the Regina (461), Saskatoon (490), north-central (815), northwest (365), central-east (237), southeast (317) and far north-central (seven) areas.

Of the 98,571 doses given in Saskatchewan, 69,800 are first doses. The remaining 28,771 are second doses, giving full immunization from the virus.