Latest COVID update Jan. 29: 1,083 new cases, two deaths

A Saskatchewan resident under the age of 19 was one of two people whose deaths were reported in Saturday’s COVID-19 update from the provincial government.

No other details were provided about the individual, including their age. It’s the fifth death in that age group in Saskatchewan since the pandemic began in March of 2020.

A person in the 80-and-over age group also died, increasing the death toll to date in Saskatchewan to 989.

The Ministry of Health also reported 1,236 recoveries and 1,083 new cases. The number of active cases fell by 132, to 12,553.

Hospitalizations also decreased in the province, dropping by two from Friday’s report to 340.

There were four fewer inpatient admissions for a total of 304, but two more cases were in intensive care. That total rose to 36.

The inpatients comprised 160 incidental COVID infections, 124 people who sought treatment for a COVID-related illness, and 20 cases that have not yet been determined.

The ICU admissions included 31 for COVID illnesses (with one in a PICU/NICU) and five for incidental COVID infections.

A look at the numbers

The new cases were in the Saskatoon (273), Regina (156), north-central (110), central-east (89), south-central (64), southeast (57), northwest (52), southwest (40), far northeast (34), central-west (31), northeast (29), far northwest (six) and far north-central (two) zones.

The hometowns of 140 cases are pending.

Of the total, 529 people were fully vaccinated (more than two weeks since their second dose), 294 were fully vaccinated and were more than two weeks from receiving their booster dose, 219 were unvaccinated, and 41 had received their first dose or were less than three weeks from their second dose.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases was 1,230, or 102.1 new cases per 100,000.

There were 21 people who tested positive outside the province added to the Saskatchewan total, which stood at 116,511. To date, 102,969 cases are considered recovered.

The cases reported in the Regina region were detected among 384 tests done by public health officials, meaning 40.6 per cent of the tests returned a positive result.

There were 2,132 first or second doses of COVID vaccines administered in the province, increasing the total to more than 1.85 million so far. Of those, more than 890,000 are second shots.