Latest COVID update Jan. 27: 1,273 new cases, two deaths

Saskatchewan continued its trend of seeing active COVID-19 cases drop as hospitalizations continue to increase.

In its daily update Thursday, the Ministry of Health reported another 13 people were in Saskatchewan hospitals with COVID-19 compared to Wednesday, upping the total to 328 — the most people in hospital with COVID since there were 335 on Oct. 19.

Another 1,273 cases were added to the total, which now stands at 113,993 cases since the pandemic began. Another 1,360 recoveries were noted, meaning recoveries outpaced new cases for the fourth consecutive day. Total recoveries surpassed 100,000 to sit at 100,622.

There are 12,386 active cases in the province, representing a drop of 62 cases compared to Wednesday.

Two more people with COVID have died, with one person in the 60-to-79 age group and another person in the 80-and-over age group. One lived in the northwest region and the other was from the central-west region.

Since the pandemic began, 985 people in Saskatchewan have died from the virus.

A look at the numbers

The new cases reported Thursday were in the Saskatoon (433), Regina (195), southeast (85), south-central (84), central-east (80), northwest (57), north-central (50), central-west (40), southwest (38), far northeast (30), northeast (25), far northwest (seven) and far north-central (one) zones.

The hometowns of 148 new cases weren’t immediately known.

The new cases in the Saskatoon zone were detected in 1,008 tests for a rate of 42.9 per cent. The rate in the Regina region was 30.9 per cent.

Of the new cases reported Thursday, 687 were fully vaccinated (meaning they were more than 14 days since their second shot), 306 were fully vaccinated and more than 14 days from getting their booster, 224 were unvaccinated or were fewer than 21 days removed from their first dose, and 56 had received their first dose or were fewer than 21 days from receiving their second dose.

The 328 hospitalizations included 120 inpatient admissions due to a COVID-related illness, 140 that were incidental COVID infections, and 33 that hadn’t yet been determined.

The 35 ICU admissions comprised 26 for COVID-related illnesses (including three in PICU/NICU), six for incidental COVID infections and three that weren’t determined.

There were 623 first doses of COVID vaccine and 1,383 second doses administered in the latest reporting period. To date, more than 1.85 million shots have been given in Saskatchewan, including more than 890,000 second shots.