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Saskatchewan has reported its first cases of the COVID-19 variant of concern that originated in India.
In its daily update Friday, the Ministry of Health said 438 new lineage results had been confirmed by genome sequencing — and those included five cases of the Indian variant.
To date, 4,106 cases of variants have been identified by whole genome sequencing: 4,021 of the United Kingdom variant, 71 of the Brazilian strain, nine of the South African mutation and five of the Indian strain.
There were 133 new variant cases identified by screening, increasing the provincial total so far to 8,915.
The ministry also reported 227 new cases of COVID, 188 recoveries and two deaths due to the virus.
The latest fatalities are a person in their 40s from the south-central zone and an individual in their 70s from the Saskatoon region. To date, 515 Saskatchewan residents have died due to COVID-19.
A look at the numbers
The latest cases were reported in the Saskatoon (50), Regina (41), southeast (36), south-central (20), northwest (18), north-central (17), southwest (15), central-east (10), northeast (seven), central-west (five), far northwest (two), far north-central (one) and far northeast (one) zones.
The hometowns of four new cases are still being determined.
Six cases that tested positive outside of the province have been added to Saskatchewan’s total since last March. It now stands at 44,159.
The seven-day average of new COVID cases is 203, or 16.6 per 100,000 population.
The recoveries reported Friday increase that total so far to 41,569 and 2,075 cases are considered active.
The number of hospitalizations due to the virus in Saskatchewan dropped to 149, its lowest level since March 24. There are 34 people in intensive care in the province, with 18 in Regina, 13 in Saskatoon and one in each of the northwest, north-central and central-east zones.
The 4,085 COVID tests done in the province on Thursday increased the total to date to 816,227.
Vaccination update
There were 7,930 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered, increasing the provincial total so far to 553,389.
The latest shots were given in the Saskatoon (2,616), Regina (1,422), southeast (732), northwest (642), central-east (517), central-west (452), north-central (273), northeast (268), south-central (223), far northwest (206), far northeast (174), southwest (142) and far north-central (one) zones.
As well, 262 people whose hometowns currently aren’t know got their first doses.