Latest COVID update Jan. 13: 945 new cases, 9,252 active cases

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan has risen by nearly 1,600 per cent over the past month.

The Ministry of Health’s daily update Thursday showed 9,252 active cases, an increase of 1,598 per cent since Dec. 14. On that date, there were 545 active cases in the province.

The update Thursday also showed more than two-fifths of COVID tests done by health officials in the Regina region Wednesday returned a positive result.

The 283 new cases in the Regina area were detected on 665 tests, meaning 42.6 per cent of the tests were positive.

That figure was lower in the Saskatoon region, where 869 tests detected 294 cases — a percentage of 33.8. Provincewide, there were 945 new cases detected in 3,319 tests, a return of 28.4 per cent.

The case total ended a four-day run of quadruple figures in new cases.

There weren’t any COVID-related deaths reported in Saskatchewan for a seventh straight day. To date, 961 residents of the province have died due to COVID.

Hospitalizations rose by two from Wednesday’s update to 123, with 11 of those in intensive care — also an increase of two from the previous day.

A look at the numbers

The other new cases were reported in the central-east (66), southeast (51), north-central (32), northwest (30), northeast (30), southwest (28), south-central (17), central-west (10), far northwest (five), far north-central (two) and far northeast (two) zones.

The hometowns of 95 cases are pending.

The seven-day average of new COVID cases rose by three to 1,060.

As of Thursday, the total number of cases reported in Saskatchewan stood at 96,125. There were 405 recoveries announced Thursday, increasing that total to date to 85,912.

The 123 hospitalizations included 55 inpatient hospitalizations due to COVID and six ICU admissions due to the virus. The rest were either incidental infections or their causes hadn’t been determined.

The 2,730 COVID vaccinations done in the latest reporting period comprised 954 first shots and 1,776 second jabs.

So far in Saskatchewan, more than 1.82 million COVID vaccinations have been done, with more than 872,000 of them second shots.