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For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March of 2020, Saskatchewan has reported more than 500 new cases in a day.
The Ministry of Health said there were 506 new cases Tuesday, breaking the daily record of 449 set Monday.
The total announced Tuesday includes 101 people under the age of 12. That age group currently isn’t eligible to be vaccinated.
It’s the first time the government has released case numbers for that age group.
The seven-day average of new COVID cases rose to a record high of 406.
The province also announced two more deaths, with one in the Saskatoon region and one in the northwest zone. One of the individuals was in the 40-to-59 age group and the other was in the 80-and-over age group.
It’s the 10th straight day the province has had at least one death due to the virus. The province’s death toll due to COVID is now 627.
The number of COVID patients in Saskatchewan hospitals jumped by 16 from Monday’s report to 225, with 43 of those in intensive care.
The provincial government said 170 of the people in hospital weren’t vaccinated. There are two children under the age of 12 receiving inpatient care.
The total of hospitalizations is the third-highest in the province since the pandemic began. The number hasn’t been as high as it currently is since it was 229 on Feb. 3.
In a statement, Premier Scott Moe said the government “remains concerned by the significant pressures on our health system created by the increasing case rates of COVID-19,” and put the blame for rising case numbers of people who aren’t vaccinated.
“On Friday, our government announced several measures we are taking to begin to address the capacity pressures currently facing our health care system,” the statement said.
“Consultations with Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer continue and will inform further actions on how we can protect this capacity. As we have previously stated, enacting additional measures has not been ruled out.”
A look at the numbers
The new cases reported Tuesday were in the Saskatoon (97), north-central (74), far northeast (64), northwest (64), Regina (45), northeast (25), southeast (22), central-east (21), south-central (17), far northwest (12), southwest (12), central-west (eight) and far north-central (four) zones.
The hometowns of 41 new cases are still being determined.
Of the new cases, 426 are unvaccinated people, 58 are individuals who were fully vaccinated and 22 were partially vaccinated.
To date, there have been 59,673 COVID cases in Saskatchewan, including 14,415 in the Saskatoon area, 14,117 in the north region and 12,760 in the Regina region.
The active caseload rose to 3,929. There were 353 recoveries, increasing the provincial total to date to 55,117.
There were 665 doses of COVID vaccine administered in the province, including 275 first doses. Over the past week, 12,972 shots were given in Saskatchewan, increasing the total to 1,503,385.
As of Tuesday, 78 per cent of those 12 and over in the province have received their first dose and 70 per cent of those 12 and over are fully vaccinated.