Saskatchewan Adds Five to COVID-19 Death Toll While Positive Test Rate Dips Below 10 Per Cent

Five people, all in their 80s, are the latest to die in Saskatchewan due to COVID-19, bringing the provincial death toll to 165. Tuesday’s novel coronavirus update from the Ministry of Health has two of the fatalities from Regina with one from each of the North Central, North East and South Central zones.

Otherwise, there were 153 new cases of COVID-19 in Tuesday’s update…39 in Regina and 33 in Saskatoon with 14 new cases requiring residence information. Add in 120 new recoveries and the active case count of the virus in Saskatchewan is at 3,057…166 of those infections in hospital with 31 people receiving treatment in an I-C-U. Overall, there have been 16,520 reported cases of COVID-19 in the province with 13,298 recoveries.

As for vaccinations, 4,254 doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been administered…the first phase having been completed in Regina and 90 per cent complete in Saskatoon. The province expects a shipment of vaccines to be received in Prince Albert this week to allow vaccinations for eligible health care staff, long term and personal care home residents in the area to begin. Vaccination of long term care residents and health providers began this morning in Saskatchewan’s Far North. The first Moderna vaccinations were provided in Île-à-la-Crosse to Registered Nurse Brittany Favel and her grandfather Jimmy Favel who is a resident in Île-à-la-Crosse Long Term Care. Vaccinations also started in La Loche this morning, as part of the roll-out in the Far North West zone.

There were 1,779 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on January 4, 2021.

To date, 437,421 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan.  As of January 3, 2021 when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 260,933 people tested per million population.  The national rate was 375,678 people tested per million population.

Daily COVID-19 Statistics

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 214 (17.7 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.

Public Health Measures

For more information on the current public health measures or to see the Public Health Order, visit www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-measures.