Positive Numbers on Positive Tests for COVID-19 in Saskatchewan, But Five More Deaths

       While there were five more deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Saskatchewan in Tuesday’s update from the Ministry of Health, the province recorded its first sub-100 day of new tests in 2021 and the first positive test rate of less than five per cent since mid-November.

       The death toll in Saskatchewan due to the novel coronavirus is now at 346 after a person in their 60s from the Far North West zone perished while the other four fatalities were people in the 80-plus age bracket…two from the North Central zone and one each from Saskatoon and the South East zone. Otherwise, Tuesday’s update had 80 new cases of COVID-19 in the province, the first time under 100 for a day since December 28. The 80 new cases came from 1,910 processed tests…or a four-point-two per cent positive test rate. The last time the positive test rate was below five per cent for a day in Saskatchewan was on November 19. Add in 253 new recoveries and the province’s active case count is at 2,026, the lowest that number has been since November 16 when it was below two thousand. Of the current active cases, 206 people are in hospital with 26 of those viruses being treated in an I-C-U.

       As for the vaccination roll-out on Monday, a total of 1,252 doses were administered over eight different zones for a total of 44,521 doses.

There were 1,252 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered yesterday in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 44,521.  With this, 100 per cent of the doses received have been administered to date.  This overage is due to efficiencies in drawing extra doses from vials of vaccine received.

The 1,252 doses were administered in the following zones: Far North West (294), Far North Central (11), Far North East (162), North West (75), North East (242), North Central (72), Central West (381), South East (15).  Back-dated corrections submitted for January 22 – February 6 have realized an additional 282 doses of vaccine administered.

Today, the Public Health Agency of Canada announced the approval of regulatory change for the Pfizer vaccine from five doses to six doses per vial.  This week’s shipment of Pfizer to the province will continue to be counted as five doses per vial.  Beginning next week, all Pfizer doses shipped to provinces and territories will be based on six doses per vial.  Due to this change, the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority are currently examining the potential impact to vaccine distribution plans.

For a listing of first and second doses in Saskatchewan administered by geographic zone, visit https://www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-vaccine-update.

Daily COVID-19 Statistics

There are 80 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan on February 9, bringing the provincial total to date to 25,654 cases.

Five Saskatchewan residents who tested positive for COVID-19 have died.  One death was reported in the 60-69 age group from the Far North West zone; two deaths were reported in the 80+ age group from the North Central zone; one death was reported in the 80+ age group from the Saskatoon zone; and one death was reported in the 80+ age group from the South East zone.

The new cases are located in the Far North West (5), Far North East (7), North West (13), North Central (7), North East (1), Saskatoon (34), Central West (2), Central East (5), Regina (4) and South Central (1) zones. One (1) case has pending residence information.

A total of 23,282 individuals have recovered and 2,026 cases are considered active.

Two hundred and six (206) people are in hospital.  One hundred and eighty (180) people are receiving inpatient care: Far North West (4), North West (21), North Central (25), North East (2), Saskatoon (65), Central West (1), Central East (10), Regina (48), South Central (1), and South East (3).  Twenty-six (26) people are in intensive care: North West (1), North Central (1), Saskatoon (10), Central East (3), Regina (10) and South West (1).

There were 1,910 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on February 8, 2021.

To date, 530,826 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan.  As of February 7, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 448,736 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 587,832 tests performed per million population.

Further statistics on the total number of cases among healthcare workers, breakdowns of total cases by source of infection, age, sex and region, total tests to date and the per capita testing rate can be found on the Government of Saskatchewan website.  Please visit www.saskatchewan.ca/government/health-care-administration-and-provider-resources/treatment-procedures-and-guidelines/emerging-public-health-issues/2019-novel-coronavirus/cases-and-risk-of-covid-19-in-saskatchewan.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 203 (16.5 new cases per 100,000 population) and is now available on the Government of Saskatchewan website.  This chart compares today’s average to data collected over the past several months.  Please visit https://dashboard.saskatchewan.ca/health-wellness/covid-19/seven-day-average-of-new-covid-cases.