Saskatchewan’s Active Cases of COVID-19 Return to Increasing, Along With Hospitalizations

• As of January 28th, there are 1,392 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 115,405 reported cases.
• The new cases are located in the Far North West (11), Far North Central (6), Far North East (31), North West (54), North Central (95), North East (27), Saskatoon (302), Central West (26), Central East (116), Regina (330), South West (28), South Central (82) and South East (129) zones and 155 new cases have pending residence information.
• Of the 1,392 new cases reported today, 270 were unvaccinated or fewer than 21 days after their first dose, 51 had received their first dose or were less than 21 days from their second dose, 727 were fully vaccinated (more than 14 days since their second dose) and 344 were fully vaccinated and more than 14 days from receiving their booster dose.
• 144 cases with pending residence information were assigned to the Far North West (2), Far North East (1), North West (36), North Central (35), North East (1), Saskatoon (17), Central West (10), Central East (3), Regina (25), South West (2), South Central (7), and South East (5) zones.
• 20 SK residents tested out-of-province were added to the North central (2), North East (1), Central East (5), Regina (5) and South East (1) zones.
• 115,405 cases are confirmed:
  • 29,836 cases are from the Saskatoon area
  • 24,419 cases are from the North area (10,661 North West, 10,169 North Central, 3,589 North East)
  • 24,407 cases are from the Regina area
  • 15,354 cases are from the South area (3,158 South West, 4,583 South Central, 7,613 South East)
  • 10,366 cases are from the Far North area (4,876 Far North West, 591 Far North Central, 4,899 Far North East)
  • 9,268 cases are from the Central area (2,133 Central West, 7,135 Central East)
  • 1,755 cases have pending residence information
• 12,685 cases are considered active and 101,733 cases are considered recovered.
• Over one-third (36.3%) of new cases are in the age category of 20 to 39.
• As of January 28th, a total of 342 individuals are hospitalized, including 308 inpatient hospitalizations and 34 ICU hospitalizations. Of the 342 patients, 114 (33.3%) were not fully vaccinated.
• The SHA dashboard includes 342 hospitalizations:
  • 308 residents are inpatient: of those, 129 inpatient hospitalizations are a COVID-19-related illness, 163 are incidental COVID-19 infections, and 16 have not yet been determined.
  • 34 residents are in ICUs: of those, 26 are for COVID-19-related illnesses, and six (6) are for incidental COVID-19 infections. Two (2) residents are in PICU/NICU: one (1) is for COVID-19-related illnesses, and one (1) is for incidental COVID-19 infection.
• Two (2) new deaths reported today. A total of 987 Saskatchewan residents with COVID-19 have died, with a case fatality rate of 0.9%.
• 1,429,293 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of January 25, 2022, when other provincial and national numbers are available from PHAC, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 1,201,033 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 1,467,835 tests performed per million population.
• The 7-day average of new COVID-19 case numbers was 1,287 (106.9 new cases per 100,000).

Cases infected with a variant of concern (VoC), as of January 28, 2022

Note that the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory is reporting that 95 per cent of new cases are Omicron cases, based on SNP testing. Based on this percentage, it is assumed that all new COVID-19 cases in the province are Omicron and the RRPL will cease performing SNP testing on new samples. All specimens from international travellers who test positive in Saskatchewan will continue to undergo whole genome sequencing to determine their lineage, as well as randomly selected cases from across the province to continue surveillance of circulating virus.

* As of September 13, 2021, the province of Saskatchewan ceased testing for variant type on all new cases using SNP in order to support overall COVID-19 testing. Whole genome sequencing will continue to identify any emerging variants. Note that, as public health investigations proceed, variant of concern case locations may change due as residence locations are confirmed.

COVID-19 Deaths by Age Group, as of January 28, 2022