The number of active cases of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan fell Tuesday to a level not seen since early November.
According to the Ministry of Health’s daily update, there are 1,053 active COVID cases in the province. That number hasn’t been that low since Nov. 7, when it was 985.
The number of active cases being reported in the Regina region fell to 159. The last time it was that low was Nov. 5, when it also was 159.
The province reported 90 new cases, 177 recoveries and two deaths.
Two people in the 80-and-over age group — one from the north-central zone and one from the northwest region — are the latest Saskatchewan residents to die due to COVID. The province’s death toll due to the virus is now 551.
There also were 6,724 vaccinations done, including 5,464 second doses. It’s the ninth straight day the number of second shots administered has exceeded the number of first doses.
A look at the numbers
The new cases increased the provincial total to date to 47,517.
They were reported in the Regina (16), northwest (15), north-central (15), Saskatoon (14), northeast (seven), southeast (five), far northwest (four), far northeast (four), central-west (four), south-central (three) and central-east (one) zones.
The hometowns of two cases are pending.
The seven-day average of new COVID cases is 97, or 7.9 per 100,000 population.
There were 94 new cases of variants of concern reported in the province, hiking that total to date to 11,347. The 6,115 variant cases with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan comprise 5,866 of the U.K. variant, 194 of the Brazilian mutation, 45 of the Indian strain and 10 of the South African variant.
The latest recoveries reported increase that total so far to 45,913.
There are 104 people with COVID in Saskatchewan hospitals, with 86 receiving inpatient care and 18 in intensive care units. That’s the fewest ICU cases since there were 16 on Feb. 27.
The current ICU patients are in the Saskatoon (eight), Regina (six), central-east (two), northwest (one) and north-central (one) regions. One intensive care patient is a transfer from Manitoba.
The 1,643 COVID tests done in Saskatchewan on Monday increased the province’s total so far to 877,438.
Vaccination update
The second doses given in the latest reporting period increased the total to date to 143,504. A total of 816,124 vaccinations have been done in the province.
The latest shots were given in the Regina (2,459), Saskatoon (1,837), northwest (754), north-central (538), central-east (380), southeast (264), south-central (121), central-west (76), northeast (72), far northeast (51), southwest (22), far northwest (18) and far north-central (six).
A total of 126 shots were given to people whose hometown is being determined.
As of Monday, 78 per cent of Saskatchewan residents over the age of 40 have received their first dose. Seventy-two per cent of those 30 and older have got their first dose.
Sixty-five per cent of those 12 and over have got their first shot; the threshold to remove public health restrictions is 70 per cent of that age group.