Sask. reports 36 new COVID-19 cases, 1 additional death

COVID-19 debated at the Legislature WATCH: On day two of Spring Session at the Saskatchewan Legislature COVID-19 was again front and centre. Allison Bamford explains.

REGINA — The Saskatchewan government reported 36 new cases of COVID-19 Friday, along with one death and 57 recoveries.

The death was recorded in the Northwest zone. The person was in the 80-plus age range, according to the province. Since the start of the pandemic, 571 people have died as a result of COVID-19.

The 36 new cases are in the Far Northwest, (four); Far Northeast (four); Northwest (three); North Central (five); Northeast (two); Saskatoon (four); Regina (five); Southwest (four); and Southeast (four) zones. The province said one cases is pending residence location.

There are 61 COVID-19 patients in hospital; 10 are in the ICU in the North Central (two); Saskatoon (four); and Regina (four) zones.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 45. There are 403 active cases across the province.

The province said there were 2,544 COVID-19 tests processed on Thursday.

VACCINATIONS

Health-care workers have administered an additional 12,678 doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

Seventy-two per cent of eligible residents age 12 and older have their first dose, and 52 per cent are fully vaccinated.

According to provincial data, fewer than 70 per cent of people in their 30s, 20s and teens have their first shot, and fewer than 50 per cent of people in each category are fully vaccinated.

VARIANTS OF CONCERN

The province did not provide details on how many additional COVID-19 cases were identified as variants of concern on Friday. As of Thursday, 12,238 COVID-19 cases in the province had been identified as variants.

According to a press release, the lineage of 80 new variant cases was confirmed through whole genome sequencing. Of the 7,667 variant cases confirmed through whole genome sequencing, 6,911 are Alpha (B.1.1.7), 398 are Gamma (P.1), 348 are Delta (B.1.617.2) and 10 are Beta (B.1.351).