Regina COVID cases increasing faster than other parts of Sask.

New COVID-19 cases have been popping up consistently all over the province for months now, but recently the Regina area has been seeing even more new cases.

The Regina area has had the largest number of new cases in the province for 10 of the past 14 days, on a couple of occasions by more than 40 cases. Nearly one-third of the new cases in the province in that time have been in the Regina area.

Four cases of COVID variants have been found in Regina — two related to travel and two not. However, the province’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said it hasn’t been confirmed the larger case totals are due to variants.

The province had been sending up to six per cent of testing samples to the national lab in Winnipeg to test for variants of concern which could take up to two weeks for a result. But just this week Saskatchewan’s provincial lab was certified to do that testing, which will reduce the wait time on results and allow more samples to be tested.

“For the most part, all COVID strains are prevented by the simple measures that we need to continue as vaccinations roll out,” Shahab said.

Shahab talked about things like mask use, testing, physical distancing, and staying home when sick.