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Saskatchewan has recorded its highest annual total of COVID-related deaths this year.
The biweekly report on respiratory illnesses issued by the province’s Ministry of Health on Thursday said 21 people died due to COVID-19 between Dec. 4 and this past Saturday.
In total, there have been 1,781 COVID deaths in the province since the start of the pandemic. According to the ministry, that total comprises 158 COVID deaths in 2020, 802 in 2021, and 821 in 2022 (as of last Saturday).
“Deaths reported in previous periods are subject to change due to ongoing investigations and a lag in reporting data,” the ministry said in an email. “Deaths are reported based on the date of death.”
The report issued Thursday also showed three deaths due to influenza between Dec. 4 and this past Saturday. There have been 10 flu-related deaths in the province since Nov. 20.
According to the report, the percentage of students who stayed home from school due to illness was 13.2 per cent in the week ending Saturday.
COVID-19
There were 803 COVID cases detected by testing in the province over the two-week reporting period — 427 between Dec. 4 and Dec. 10 and 376 in the week ending Saturday.
Test positivity across the province dropped to 5.8 per cent from 6.6 per cent in the past week.
The number of hospital admissions due to COVID dropped from 116 in the week of Dec. 4-10 to 105 in the seven-day period ending Saturday. There were four COVID patients in ICU as of Saturday.
Across the province, 46 per cent of people over the age of 50 have received more than one booster dose. Among those five years of age and over, 21 per cent have received their latest booster shot in the past six months.
Influenza
In the two-week period covered by the report, there were 668 flu cases detected by testing in Saskatchewan — 411 in the week of Dec. 4-10 and 257 in the week that ended Saturday.
The test positivity rates in that period fell from 20.1 per cent two weeks ago to 14.3 per cent last week. The regions with the highest test positivity rates are the far northeast (46.5 per cent) and the northeast (43.8 per cent).
The number of hospitalizations due to influenza dropped from 92 as of Dec. 3 to 37 in the week ending Saturday. ICU admissions due to the flu also fell, from nine as of Dec. 3 to four in the past week.
According to the government, 24 per cent of people in Saskatchewan have received a flu shot. That’s up two per cent from the previous reporting period, but is down 12 per cent from the same time last year.
RSV
There were 149 cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) detected by lab testing in the province, up from 83 the previous week. That number stood at 79 in the week of Nov. 27 to Dec. 3.
Of the 149 cases, 94 were under the age of four.
The test positivity rate also has increased, going from 3.8 per cent as of Dec. 3 to 5.4 per cent in the week of Dec. 4-10 to 10.5 per cent this past week.
There were 37 hospitalizations as a result of RSV in the week ending Saturday, with one individual in the ICU. The previous week, there were 23 RSV-related hospitalizations and none in the ICU.