Latest COVID update Jan. 12: Seven-day average climbs over 1,000

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan reached quadruple figures for the first time Wednesday.

In its daily update, the Ministry of Health said there were 1,084 new cases in the province, pushing the seven-day average to 1,057, or 87.8 new cases per 100,000 people.

There were 416 new cases detected in the Saskatoon region in 1,147 tests, meaning 36.3 per cent of the tests returned a positive result.

That rate was higher in Regina, where 660 tests found 287 new cases — a percentage of 43.5 per cent.

There were 617 recoveries reported, but there weren’t any deaths announced. The active case count rose to 8,706.

To date, 1,514 cases of the Omicron variant have been confirmed in Saskatchewan and 2,245 remain probable.

A look at the numbers

In addition to the cases in the Regina and Saskatoon regions, there also were infections reported in the southeast (86), central-east (48), northwest (40), south-central (27), southwest (23), far northwest (23), north-central (22), far northeast (15), northeast (10) and central-west (six) zones. The hometowns of 81 cases are still being determined.

Eleven Saskatchewan residents who tested positive outside of the province were added to the province’s total, which stood at 95,174.

To date, 85,507 recoveries have been announced, along with 961 deaths.

More than 40 per cent of the new cases reported Wednesday were in the 20-to-39 age group.

Hospitalizations remained steady at 121 — including 45 incidental cases — but ICU admissions dropped by two, to nine. It’s the first time since Aug. 13 the number of ICU cases has been under 10.

There were 2,217 COVID vaccinations done in the latest reporting period, including 801 first shots and 1,416 second jabs.

To date in Saskatchewan, more than 1.82 million COVID doses have been administered, with nearly 871,000 of them second shots.