Latest COVID update July 9: 39 new Delta cases identified

The number of cases of the Delta COVID-19 variant in Saskatchewan continues to rise.

The Ministry of Health said Friday there were 39 new Delta cases identified by genome sequencing — nearly half of the day’s total.

That raised the province’s total of the variant first seen in India to 348. That number was 209 on Monday.

As of Friday, 172 of the Delta cases were in the Regina region.

Of the 7,667 variants of concern identified so far in Saskatchewan, 6,911 are Alpha (the United Kingdom strain), 398 are Gamma (Brazilian) and 10 are Beta (South African).

The province also reported 57 recoveries, 36 new cases and one death. An individual in the 80-and-over age group from the northwest zone is the 571st Saskatchewan resident to die due to COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

There also were 12,678 doses of COVID vaccine administered in the province, including 10,878 second doses. To date, 535,878 Saskatchewan residents — 53 per cent of those 12 and over — have received both doses and are considered fully vaccinated.

The province is to lift all public health measures as well as the state of emergency on Sunday.

A look at the numbers

The newest cases were reported in the Regina (five), north-central (five), Saskatoon (four), far northwest (four), far northeast (four), southwest (four), southeast (four), northwest (three) and northeast (two) zones. The hometown of one case is pending.

Ten patients who tested positive outside of the province were added to the Saskatchewan total, which now stands at 49,198.

The latest recoveries increase that total to date to 48,224. The active caseload stands at 403, while the seven-day average of new cases is 45.

There are 61 COVID patients in Saskatchewan hospitals, with 51 receiving inpatient care and 10 in intensive care. Those latter patients are in hospitals in Regina (four), Saskatoon (four) and the north-central zone (two).

The 2,544 tests processed in Saskatchewan on Thursday increased the provincial total to date to 932,412.

Vaccination update

So far in Saskatchewan, 1,273,245 doses of COVID vaccine have been administered.

The latest shots were given in the Saskatoon (3,756), Regina (3,038), northwest (1,121). central-east (930), north-central (836), southeast (753), south-central (437), central-west (421), southwest (416), northeast (239), far northeast (189), far northwest (108) and far north-central (38) zones.

There were 396 doses administered with zone of residence pending.