Latest COVID update March 30: Public health orders for Regina region extended

The stricter public health measures put in place for the Regina area on March 23 have been extended for another seven days.

In its daily COVID-19 update Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said the measures — initially to be in effect until April 5 — now are to be in place until April 12. They’ll be re-evaluated at that time.

In the Regina area, indoor private gatherings are limited to immediate household members only, all restaurants are closed (although pickup and delivery are permitted), and event venues like movie theatres, bowling alleys, museums and banquet halls are closed.

As well, travel into and out of the Regina region isn’t recommended. The ministry previously has suggested that all people who can work from home should do so.

The public health measures for the rest of the province also are being extended until April 12.

Premier Scott Moe said during a conference call Tuesday the government doesn’t want to add new measures, but rather to keep COVID in check until more vaccinations can be done.

“There are other options we can move on — and we did that most recently this past week in Regina with restaurants and with worship services,” Moe said. “That’s not the goal. The goal is to not move on additional measures. The goal is to keep COVID at a level that it isn’t overburdening our provincial health-care system …

“The last item that we would choose is to enact restrictions that impact not only people’s lives but impact ultimately their livelihoods.”

A look at the numbers

The Regina region reported an all-time single-day high of 80 hospitalizations on Tuesday. That includes 66 people who are receiving inpatient care and 14 people in intensive care.

There are 160 people in Saskatchewan hospitals, with 22 in ICU.

The province announced 164 new cases of COVID, increasing the province’s total to date to 33,399 cases.

The new cases were in the Regina (91), Saskatoon (24), south-central (20), central-east (11), southeast (six), northwest (two), northeast (two), central-west (two), far northwest (one), far northeast (one) and north-central (one) zones.

The hometowns of three cases are still being determined.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 201, or 16.4 per 100,000 population.

There were 101 cases of variants of concern reported Tuesday, increasing that total so far to 1,575. The Regina (1,298), south-central (118) and southeast (107) zones have the highest totals in the province.

The 201 recoveries reported Tuesday increased that total to date to 31,023. The active caseload fell to 1,942, with 1,039 of those in the Regina zone.

A person in the 80-and-over age group from the central-east zone died due to COVID. To date, 434 Saskatchewan residents have died after contracting the virus.

There were 3,301 COVID tests done in the province on Monday, hiking that total so far to 662,471.

Vaccination update

The province announced last week that a delay in the latest Moderna shipment would affect vaccination appointments.

On Tuesday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority confirmed clinics in 41 communities have been afffected by the Moderna delay. A list of the clinics that have been delayed and their new dates can be found here.

The province reported 4,636 vaccinations were done Monday, increasing the province’s total so far to 184,436.

The latest shots were given in the Saskatoon (2,106), Regina (1,077), south-central (643), central-east (505), southeast (206), far northeast (75) and northwest (24) zones.

Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive in the province this week. Doses destined for Saskatoon (15,210) and Regina (14,040) were slated to arrive Tuesday, with shipments for Prince Albert (3,510), North Battleford (2,340) and Yorkton (1,170) expected to arrive Wednesday.