Latest COVID update April 23: 245 new cases, 1 death, 52 patients in Saskatchewan ICUs

The number of COVID-19 patients in Saskatchewan intensive care units reached an all-time high Friday.

There are 52 patients with the coronavirus in ICUs, an increase of four from Thursday’s report from the Ministry of Health. The previous high of 51 was recorded Tuesday.

There are 35 ICU cases in the Regina region, 11 in the Saskatoon area, and two in each of the north-central, central-east and southwest zones.

The ministry also reported 245 new COVID cases, 170 new cases of variants of concern, 296 recoveries and one death. A person in their 60s from the Regina region is the 471st person to die due to the virus in Saskatchewan.

As well, the province said an individual in Regina had been issued a $2,800 ticket by Saskatchewan Health Authority public health inspectors for failing to comply with a public health order. No other details were provided.

According to the Regina Police Service, its officers have handed out 30 tickets under public health orders.

A look at the numbers

The latest new cases were reported in the Regina (75), Saskatoon (40), southeast (27), northwest (23), central-east (19), north-central (15), south-central (12), southwest (10), far northeast (nine), northeast (five), central-west (three) and far northwest (two) zones. There are five cases with residences pending.

Ten cases that were tested out of province have been added to the Saskatchewan total, which now stands at 39,392 cases since last March.

To date, there have been 5,691 cases of variants of concern identified by screening in Saskatchewan, with 3,286 of those in the Regina region and 576 in the Saskatoon zone.

The seven-day average of daily new COVID cases was 251, or 20.5 per 100,000 population.

There have been 36,458 recoveries to date. Of the 2,463 active cases in the province, 821 are in the Regina region.

Across the province, 186 people are in hospital, with 134 of those receiving inpatient care.

The 4,157 tests processed in Saskatchewan on Thursday increased the total to date to 745,435.

Vaccination update

There were 9,801 doses of COVID vaccine administered in the latest round of immunizations, increasing the provincial total to 382,135.

The latest shots were given in the Saskatoon (2,276), Regina (1,197), southeast (1,013), central-east (1,005), northeast (950), central-west (715), northwest (512), southwest (502), far northwest (419), north-central (349), south-central (310), far northeast (222) and far north-central (seven) regions.

The hometowns of 324 recipients are still being determined.

So far, 54 per cent of Saskatchewan residents aged 40 and over have been vaccinated.

Eligibility to book appointments is open to everyone 44 and over, and 40 and over in the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District.