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The number of cases of the Delta variant of concern of COVID-19 is continuing to climb in Saskatchewan.
In its daily update Friday, the Ministry of Health said 178 cases of that variant had been identified, more than double what it was one week ago. On June 18, 70 cases of the Delta variant had been identified by whole genome sequencing.
The Alpha variant remains the most prevalent mutation in Saskatchewan, with 6,615 cases — an increase of 139 from the previous report. There are 316 cases of the Gamma variant in the province and 10 of the Beta strain.
The ministry also reported 56 new COVID cases and 52 recoveries. There weren’t any new deaths announced.
A look at the numbers
There were 12,057 variant cases identified by screening in Saskatchewan, up 22 from Thursday’s report. The Regina region has recorded the most cases to date, with 4,789.
The new COVID cases were in the Saskatoon (16), Regina (nine), central-east (seven), far northwest (six), northwest (three), southeast (three), far north-central (two), far northeast (two), central-west (two) and north-central (one) zones. Five cases are pending residence information.
To date, Saskatchewan has reported 48,646 cases.
The seven-day average of new COVID cases fell to 49, or 4.0 per 100,000 population. That’s the lowest that figure has been since it was 46 (or 3.8 per 100,000) on Oct. 23.
There have been 47,472 recoveries announced to date. The active caseload stands at 609.
The 78 COVID hospitalizations in the province included 12 people in intensive care. Five of those are in Saskatoon, three are in Regina and two are in each of the northwest and north-central zones.
Vaccination update
The province reported 20,988 more COVID vaccinations, increasing the total number of shots given so far in Saskatchewan to 1,069,657.
The latest shots comprised 2,217 first doses and 18,771 second doses. To date, 353,286 people have received both shots and are considered fully vaccinated.
The most-recent vaccinations were done in the Saskatoon (6,017), Regina (3,906), central-east (2,042), southeast (1,750), north-central (1,313), central-west (1,247), south-central (1,216), northeast (869), southwest (823), far northeast (422), northwest (410), far northwest (409) and far north-central (eight) zones.
The hometowns of 566 recipients are still being determined.
The percentage of people 12 and over in the province who have received a first dose remained at 69 per cent.