Latest COVID update June 20: All COVID measures to lift July 11, active cases dip, vaccinations near one million

It is official: COVID measures will be a thing of the past in Saskatchewan on July 11.

In a news release Sunday, the province announced that all restrictions, including mandatory masks and gathering limits, will be lifted.

This breaks from the initial plan of keeping masks and gathering limits until three weeks after 70 per cent of people aged 12 and up received their first COVID vaccine dose.

In that release, Premier Scott Moe said the province is close enough.

“As we are now so close to the final threshold, we are able to announce that Step 3 will be fully implemented on Sunday, July 11. We are able to make this announcement because so many Saskatchewan residents have done their part by getting vaccinated, so I’d like to say thanks to Saskatchewan people. Over the past 15 months, Saskatchewan residents have diligently followed public health guidelines and restrictions, and over the past months they have followed through by getting vaccinated,” he explained.

Because so many have done their part by rolling up their sleeves & sticking it to COVID, we are able to share some great news.

On July 11, all public health orders will be lifted, including mandatory masking & gathering size limits.

Let’s all enjoy a great Saskatchewan summer! pic.twitter.com/1Fi6vUmajx

— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) June 20, 2021

Vaccination update

Many people in Saskatchewan continue to roll up their sleeve for a second shot.

In its daily update, the Ministry of Health reported that 16,084 doses had been given. Of those, 2,351 were first doses.

The total number of vaccinations continues to inch closer to the million mark; there have been 997,818 jabs delivered.

More people become eligible to get their second shot Monday. Anyone who got their first dose on or before May 15 can get their second.

A look at the numbers

As vaccine numbers trend upwards, it’s the opposite for infections.

Active cases dropped again in Sunday’s update.

There were 60 new cases reported, along with 76 recoveries. The active caseload sits at 743.

The highest number of new cases, 27, is in the Saskatoon. The rest of the cases are in the Regina (nine), northwest (nine), north-central (four), far northwest (four), south-central (three), southeast (two), central-west (one) and far northeast (one) areas.

The seven-day average of daily new cases sits at 69, or 5.7 per 100,000 people.

One person in their 70’s died in the northwest area, raising the total deaths from the virus so far to 563.

There are 79 people in hospital. Of those, 67 are receiving inpatient care, while the remaining 12 are in hospital in the Saskatoon (six), Regina (four), central-east (one) and north-central (one) areas.