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Saskatchewan reported its highest daily total of COVID-19 cases in the past 10 days Wednesday.
The Ministry of Health said there were 53 new infections, the most since 61 were announced June 26. There were 2,396 tests performed, the most in a day since 2,455 were done June 18.
The total number of new cases likely doesn’t include numbers from the Wollaston Lake area, which is dealing with an outbreak.
“Some First Nations, including Hatchet Lake, use a rapid testing machine provided by the federal government to support rapid case contact identification,” the provincial government said in a media release. “Positive cases need to then be manually entered into the provincial system.
“Data entry into the provincial system has been delayed while staff work on the immediate outbreak response. Additional staffing supports have been brought in and staff will be working on entering the COVID tests into the provincial system.”
A person in their 40s from the northwest zone has died due to the virus, the 570th Saskatchewan resident to die as a result of COVID-19.
The ministry also reported 40 recoveries. The active caseload in the province rose by six from Tuesday’s report to 319.
There were 13,719 doses of COVID vaccine given in Saskatchewan in the latest reporting period. That included 12,001 second shots.
The government said 50 per cent of all eligible Saskatchewan residents aged 12 and over are now fully vaccinated against the virus, but that figure is rounded up.
As of Wednesday, 513,465 people had received both shots. But the government has said there are 1,033,096 people eligible to receive a shot in the province — and half of that figure is 516,548.
A look at the numbers
The new cases were reported in the Regina (13), southwest (10), Saskatoon (six), far northwest (five), north-central (five), northeast (three), central-west (three) and northwest (one) zones. The hometowns of seven cases are pending.
Seven cases deemed to be out-of-province residents were removed from Saskatchewan’s total and one case that tested positive in another province was added. The provincial total now stands at 49,039 cases.
The seven-day average of new COVID cases is 31, or 2.6 per 100,000 population.
The 64 COVID-related hospitalizations in the province include 10 people in intensive care. That total comprises four people in Saskatoon, three in Regina, two in the north-central region and one in the northwest zone.
To date, 12,231 cases of variants of concern have been identified by screening in Saskatchewan.
Vaccination update
The latest shots increased the province’s total so far to 1,247,253.
The most-recent doses were administered in the Saskatoon (4,050), Regina (3,311), northwest (1,620), north-central (1,008), southeast (811), central-east (730), northeast (561), south-central (329), central-west (311), southwest (279), far northeast (153), far northwest (130) and far north-central (six).
The hometowns of 420 recipients are still being determined.
The government also issued data on vaccinations and their outcomes in June.
There weren’t any ICU cases or deaths reported last month among people who had received both doses of a COVID vaccine.
