Nearly half of Saskatchewan residents aged 40 and over have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
In a media release Sunday, the provincial government said 276,150 residents aged 40 and over had been immunized out of an estimated population of 568,958 in that age range.
The government estimated 85 per cent of those 80 and over, 81 per cent of those between the ages of 70 and 79, 65 per cent of those in their 60s, 38 per cent of people in their 50s and 15 per cent of the 40-to-49 age group had received their first doses.
The Ministry of Health also reported 11,063 vaccinations, 289 new cases of COVID, 205 recoveries, 135 new cases of variants of concern and one death.
Vaccination update
The latest vaccination increased the provincial total to date to 345,126.
They were administered in the Saskatoon (3,003), Regina (2,624), south-central (1,270), southeast (997), north-central (925), central-east (766), northwest (638), southwest (203), northeast (170), central-west (129), far northeast (58), far northwest (28) and far north-central (nine) zones.
The hometowns of 243 people who were immunized are still being determined.
A look at the numbers
A person in their 50s from the north-central zone is the 465th Saskatchewan resident to die due to the virus.
The latest new cases were reported in the Regina (106), southeast (41), Saskatoon (32), central-east (26), northwest (21), south-central (15), north-central (12), far northwest (nine), central-west (seven), southwest (six), far northeast (two) and northeast (two) zones.
The residence information for 10 cases is unknown.
The total number of cases in Saskatchewan since last March stands at 38,160. There have been 34,953 recoveries.
As of Sunday, 2,742 cases are considered active — the highest-such number since there were 3,272 active cases on Jan. 25.
The seven-day average of new COVID cases was 261, or 21.3 per 100,000 population.
To date, there have been 4,664 variants cases identified by screening in Saskatchewan. The Regina (2,857), southeast (452), Saskatoon (441) and south-central (379) zones all are reporting more than 350 such cases.
There are 189 COVID patients in Saskatchewan hospitals, with 45 in intensive care. Those patients are scattered between the Regina (39), Saskatoon (10), north-central (two), south-central (two) and central-east (one) zones.
The 3,623 COVID tests processed in Saskatchewan on Saturday increased the province’s total so far to 728,491.