THE BATTLEFORDS — As of Saturday, the North West zone was one active case away from its record high since the pandemic began.
The Jan. 22 statistics on the Saskatchewan Dashboard indicated the North West zone had an active case number of 725, a 55-case jump from the total of the day before. Seven-seven new cases were reported, but only 52 recoveries.
There was one additional hospitalization, up from 23 to 24.
The increase in cases took a sudden jump from Tuesday, when there were 355 cases, to the 22nd, when they hit 725, one case away from the record set Oct. 11. It had been climbing steadily since its latest dip of 19 on Dec. 21.
The North West has seen a 2,316.7 per cent increase in cases in the last 30 days. Only the South West, South Central and the Far North East zones have had higher increases.
Subzone 2, which includes Lloydminster, leads the North West in cases, with an increase of 34 cases bringing the active caseload up to 420 out of a population of 30,490.
The Battlefords, subzone 4, was second highest, with 145 active cases out of a population of 23,727. Cases were up by 55 from the day before.
Subzone 3, which includes areas east and west of the Battlefords, was third highest at 88 out of a population of 17,096. Cases were up by 18 from the day before.
There were six new cases to bring subzone 1 up to 62 active cases out of a population of 11,073. This area is northwest of the Battlefords.
North West vaccine stats included new reported doses (147 more totalling 251), total doses (251 more totalling 123,876) and fully vaccinated (166 more totaling 57,758).
Just south of the Battlefords, subzone 1 of the Central West zone, (extending down to and including Kindersley) has also jumped. It exceeded its record of 136 on Jan. 7 and as of Jan. 22 was 239.
