Sask. reports 205 new COVID-19 cases; hits single-day record of vaccines administered

The U.S. is beginning to see a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images/CNN)

REGINA — Saskatchewan reported 205 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, along with two more deaths and 200 recoveries.

One person who died was in their 70s and from the Southeast zone; a second person was older than 80 and from the Saskatoon zone. There have been 447 COVID-related deaths in Saskatchewan since the start of the pandemic.

The new cases are located in the Far Northwest (four), Far North Central (one), Far Northeast (four), North West (three), North Central (four), Northeast (five), Saskatoon (32), Central West (one), Central East (nine), Regina (91), Southwest (six), South Central (21), and Southeast (23) zones. The location of one new case is pending residence information.

VARIANTS OF CONCERN

The province identified an additional 118 variants of concern (VoC) Thursday.

So far, there have been 2,948 VoC cases identified through screening. These cases were reported in the Far Northwest (two), Far Northeast (four), Northwest (six), North Central (21), Saskatoon (189), Central West (12), Central East (64), Regina (2,107), Southwest (18), South Central (260), and South East (246) zones.

The number of identified VoC cases has increased by more than 1,000 since April 1, when there were 1,682 total VoC identified.

There are 951 variant cases that have been confirmed through whole genome sequencing. There are 943 B.1.1.1.7 – which originated in the U.K. – and eight are B.1.3.5.1, the variant that was first detected in South Africa.

VACCINES

The province marked its highest single-day total of vaccines administered, with 10,437 shots given on Wednesday.

The doses were given in the Far Northwest (34), Far North Central (two), Far Northeast (21), Northwest (924), North Central (925), Northeast (1,444), Saskatoon (3,364), Central West (102), Central East (791), Regina (1,822), Southwest (207), South Central (75) and Southeast (503). There were 223 doses administered where the zone is pending residence information.

Saskatchewan announced changes to its vaccine delivery plan on Thursday, making the Regina drive-thru vaccination clinic available to those aged 53 and 54, and expanding the vaccine appointment booking system to ages 55-plus province-wide.