Monthly report shows COVID cases climbing in Saskatchewan

The number of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan is on an upward curve.

According to the Ministry of Health’s Community Respiratory Illness Surveillance Program report — which was released Friday, a day later than expected — there were 96 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the province in the week that ended Saturday.

That was the highest number for a week since 127 cases were reported in the week of May 7-13.

There had been 36 lab-confirmed cases in the province in the first week of August.

The test-positivity rate in the province in the past week was 8.0 per cent, up from 5.2 per cent a month earlier.

This week, Dr. Saqib Shahab — Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer — said there likely would be an increase in cases as the weather gets colder and people start spending more time indoors.

One person died due to COVID over the past month. Since March of 2020, the virus has claimed the lives of 2,005 Saskatchewan people.

According to the ministry, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) has reached the point of low activity, with just three cases confirmed by lab testing over the past four weeks.

There were six lab-confirmed cases of influenza in that time, with a test positivity rate of 0.2 per cent — well below the interseasonal two per cent positivity threshold.

The ministry also noted it’s moving from monthly to bi-weekly reports now that fall has arrived.

COVID-19

The report for the past four weeks said the most confirmed COVID cases were in the 20-to-64 age group at 49.9 per cent, with 42 per cent in 65-and-over age group. Children under age four accounted for 5.7 per cent of the cases.

There were 10 outbreaks reported in high-risk settings over the past four weeks.

EG.5 and its sublineages were the most commonly detected variants at 18.7 per cent, followed by XBB.1.5 (16.5 per cent) and XBB.1.9.2 (15.8 per cent).

There were 21 people in hospital with COVID in the week that ended Saturday, nearly double the number reported in the first week of August (11). The number of people in intensive care units due to COVID rose month over month from one to four.

Other illnesses

There was only one hospitalization and no ICU admissions for the flu over the four weeks included in the report. No one had been hospitalized due to RSV in the month.

There were five outbreaks in high-risk settings due to other viruses. According to the ministry, the most commonly detected illness among the other viruses was Rhinovirus — the common cold.