Latest COVID update March 27: 224 new cases, no new deaths, variants rising in Moose Jaw

The province continues to see high COVID totals as Saskatchewan reported 224 new COVID-19 cases Saturday, 11 more cases than on Friday.

Saturday’s numbers are the highest daily total since February 13 when 244 new cases were announced in the province.

The new cases are located in the far northwest (four), far northeast (two), northwest (10), north-central (nine), northeast (13), Saskatoon (28), central-west (four), central-east (three), Regina (122), south-central (18) and southeast (11) zones.

Four cases previously without a known location have been added to the northwest (one), northeast (one) and Regina (two) zones.

The province also warned variants of concern are beginning to rise across southern Saskatchewan, particularly in the Moose Jaw area.

As of Friday, 1,240 variants of concern have been identified. The cases are located in the far northeast (one), Saskatoon (18), central-west (one), central-east (24), Regina (1,041), south-central (80) and south-east (75) zones.

There are 21 new lineage results, which identify the COVID-19 variant, reported Saturday.

With 87 recoveries Saturday, there is now a total of 30,536 recoveries and 1,817 cases considered active.

One hundred fifty-two people are in hospital across Saskatchewan, 127 of which are receiving inpatient care in the far northeast (one), northwest (five), north-central (seven), northeast (one), Saskatoon (38), central-east (nine), Regina (56), southwest (one), south-central (one) and southeast (eight) zones.

There are 25 people in intensive care: Saskatoon (five), central-east (two), Regina (16), southwest (one) and south-central (one).

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 190, or 15.5 new cases per 100,000 population.

There were 4,103 COVID-19 tests processed Friday for a total of 652,355 COVID-19 tests in the province.

Vaccinations

An extra 4,814 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were given Friday, bringing the total number of vaccines administered to 167,509.

Of the 4,814 doses of COVID-19 vaccine reported Saturday, doses were given in the far north-central (10), far northeast (11), northwest (203), north-central (239), Saskatoon (1,517), central-east (1,371), Regina (1,372) and south-central (91).

The appointment booking system is currently available to residents 62 years and older. Appointments can be booked either online or by phone.

The province is also reporting nearly 75 per cent of Saskatchewan residents in their 80s and 37 per cent of residents in their 70s have now received their first dose of vaccine.

New restrictions for the Regina area begin Sunday

New restrictions for household gatherings and travel restrictions are set to take effect on Sunday at 12:01 a.m.

All restaurants, bars and pubs must close for in-person dining, this includes video lottery terminals.

Banquet and conference facilities, community halls, galleries, museums, libraries, live theatres, movie theatres, performing arts facilities, bowling alleys, car shows, racing and rodeo facilities, arcades, trade shows, science centres and auction houses are also part of the restrictions.

These public health restrictions apply to Regina and surrounding areas, including Belle Plaine, Pense, Grand Coulee, Lumsden Beach, Regina Beach, Craven, Lumsden, Edenwold, Pilot Butte, White City, Balgonie, Kronau, Davin, Gray, Riceton, RM of Lajord, RM of Edenwold, RM of Sherwood, RM of Pense and the RM of Lumsden.