Sask. reports 5 more COVID-19 deaths, 124 new cases

An employee is pictured at the Roy Romanow Provincial Lab. (Supplied)

REGINA — The Government of Saskatchewan announced five people have died after testing positive for COVID-19.

Of the five new deaths, one person from the Saskatoon zone was in their 30s, one person from the Regina zone was in their 50s and three people were in the 80-plus age group, from the North West zone, Regina zone and Saskatoon zone.

The province also reported 124 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, along with 189 recoveries.

A total of 178 people are in hospital in Saskatchewan related to the virus, including 23 in intensive care.

The seven-day average for daily new cases is 160, or 13 new cases per 100,000.

The province said a total of 1,541 cases remain active.

The new cases are located in the Far North West (16), Far North Central (four), Far North East (five), North West (14), North Central (12), Saskatoon (nine), Central West (five), Central East (three), Regina (48) and South Central (one) zones.

Seven new cases are pending residence information.

On Tuesday, there were 1,800 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan. To date, 549,077 COVID-19 tests have been processed in the province.

VACCINATIONS

The province said 271 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered on Tuesday. There have now been 50,326 vaccine doses distributed in Saskatchewan, according to the government.

There are 877 doses remaining in the Far North zone, which the government said will accommodate second dose schedules. Second doses are expected to be administered by Feb. 25.

A shipment of 12,870 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to be delivered to Regina and Saskatoon on Feb. 17. Shipments are expected to arrive in Yorkton, Swift Current and North Battleford on Feb. 18.

RESTRICTIONS EXTENDED TO MAR. 19

Saskatchewan officials have extended the current public health orders to March 19.

The current COVID-19 restrictions limit private gatherings to five people, and all must reside in the same household. A single-person household can join a household of four or fewer, for a maximum of five attendees in total. READ MORE

MORE HEALTH CARE WORKERS ADDED TO PHASE 1 OF COVID-19 VACCINE ROLLOUT

The province has expanded the list of health-care workers eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine in Phase 1, following a review of the vaccine delivery plan.

The premier and the province’s chief medical health officer said the government wanted to ensure those giving vaccines and those who may come in contact with high risk individuals are safe from the virus.

“What we want to preserve these priority vaccinations for – and these very scarce vaccine resources that we have – are for people that are actually participating in the vaccination rollout here in the province,” said Scott Moe. “It is going to be all hands on deck and we're asking all to participate. And we want to ensure that they're protected as they do.”

SASKATOON BAR FINED $14K FOR ALLEGEDLY BREAKING COVID-19 RULES

The province has again slapped a Saskatoon bar with a fine for allegedly violating the current COVID-19 restrictions.

Specklebelly's Brew Pub in the city's Sutherland neighbourhood was fined $14,000 last week according to the Government of Saskatchewan.

In a news release issued Tuesday, the province said the fine stemmed from a "failure to abide by public health orders."