Latest COVID update July 15: 30 new cases, fewest patients in hospital since Nov. 12

Thirty new cases of COVID-19 were announced in the province Thursday.

Just under 8,000 new doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered in the province in the latest reporting period. That included 6,420 second doses.

In Saskatchewan, there are 52 hospitalizations due to COVID-19, the lowest number since there were 49 on Nov. 12.

A look at the numbers

A total of 49,341 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Saskatchewan as of Thursday.

New cases were located in the far northwest (five), central-west (four), northwest (four), Regina (four), far northwest (three), central-east (one), far north-central (one), northeast (one), Saskatoon (one), southeast (one) and southwest (one) zones. Four cases are pending residence information.

Two cases listed as pending location have been assigned to the far northwest (one) and Regina (one). Non-Saskatchewan residents have been removed from total case counts in Regina (two), northwest (one), Saskatoon (one) and southwest (one). Six individuals pending residence have also been removed from total case counts for the province.

There have been 48,395 recoveries from COVID to date in Saskatchewan and 373 cases are still active. There were no new deaths reported Thursday due to the virus.

Inpatient care is being provided to 43 patients in the Saskatoon (18), Regina (16), southeast (three), north-central (two), northwest (two), central-east (one) and far northeast (one) regions.

Saskatchewan has nine patients in intensive care in Saskatoon (five), Regina (three) and the north-central (one) area.

The seven-day average for new cases is 27, the lowest it has been since Oct. 13.

There were 1,400 COVID-19 tests processed in the province Wednesday. Saskatchewan has processed 939,834 COVID-19 tests to date.

No new lineage results for variants of concern (VOC) were reported today. Nearly 8,000 VOCs have been identified in Saskatchewan, with 377 Delta variants identified.

Vaccine update

The province reported 7,787 new doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been given in Saskatchewan. A total of 1,321,210 doses have been administered.

Residents who received the vaccinations were in the Saskatoon (2,348), Regina (1,711), northwest (744), north-central (482), south-central (467), central-east (462), southeast (424), central-west (276), northeast (240), far northeast (126), far northwest (118), southwest (108), and far north-central (13) zones. Doses administered with zone of residence pending numbered 268.

Of those at or over the age of 12, 73 per cent have been vaccinated with their first dose and 57 per cent are fully vaccinated.

The Saskatchewan government says the risk each resident faces in contracting COVID-19 now depends on their vaccination status, not age.

“Saskatchewan could continue to see localized outbreaks among unvaccinated and under-vaccinated populations,” the province said in a release Thursday.

Every person requires two vaccine doses to be best protected against the COVID-19 virus, and particularly the Delta variant, the government advises.