Latest COVID update Feb. 5: 3 deaths, 269 new cases, 7 fines issued

After slowing to a trickle due to production slowdowns, COVID-19 vaccines once again are flowing in Saskatchewan.

In a media release Friday, the Ministry of Health said there were 2,099 vaccinations done Thursday. On Monday, before the latest shipment of vaccine arrived in the province, there were only 88 shots given.

The ministry also reported 269 new cases of COVID, 229 recoveries and the deaths of three residents due to the virus.

The fatalities were a person in their 60s who lived in the northeast zone, an individual in their 70s who lived in the far northwest region, and a person in the 80-and-over age group from the north-central zone.

To date, 332 Saskatchewan residents have died due to COVID.

The government’s update also noted seven residents of the province were given $2,800 tickets this week for failing to abide by public health orders.

Vaccination update

The total number of vaccinations done in the province to date is 38,710.

The doses administered Thursday were in the northwest (573), Saskatoon (496), southeast (432), north-central (428), central-east (116), far northeast (44) and far north-central (10) zones.

Further analysis of data from Tuesday’s vaccinations determined another 84 doses were done in the central-east zone.

The 5,850 doses that arrived in the province this week are being used to complete Phase One vaccinations in Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Yorkton and North Battleford.

A shipment of 6,000 Moderna doses has arrived at Regina’s Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory.

Doses were to be shipped by ground transportation to the southeast, northeast, central-west and far northwest regions Friday afternoon. Others are to go by air to the far north-central and far northeast areas on Saturday.

The government added it’s to receive 11,700 Pfizer doses during the week of March 1 and 11,700 doses during the week of March 8.

A look at the numbers

The new cases reported Friday were in the Saskatoon (66), Regina (41), northwest (30), northeast (22), southeast (22), north-central (21), far northwest (19), far northeast (15), central-east (10), central-west (six), far north-central (five), south-central (four) and southwest (one) zones. The hometowns of seven new cases are pending.

The seven-day average of new cases in Saskatchewan is 225, or 18.4 per 100,000 population. The total number of cases to date in the province is 24,946.

To date, 22,315 individuals have been deemed recovered. The active caseload stands at 2,299.

There are 224 people in hospital, including 28 in intensive care. That includes 11 people in each of the Regina and Saskatoon zones, three in the central-east region and one in each of the northwest, north-central and southwest areas.

The government said Thursday it had clarified hospitalization numbers from earlier in the week, resulting in the highest one-day total of hospitalizations — 238 on Tuesday — since the pandemic began.

The 3,317 COVID-19 tests processed in the province on Thursday increased the total to date to 521,073.