REGINA — The Saskatchewan Ministry of Health's weekly COVID-19 integrated epidemiology (epi) report was issued Thursday, May 19 for the period ending May 14, and there are a few things you should know.
Case numbers way down
465 new cases were confirmed reflecting about 0.4 laboratory-confirmed cases per 1,000 population.
• The number of new laboratory-confirmed cases was lower than the number of new cases in the previous week (710).
The majority of laboratory-confirmed cases this week were 50 years and older (54.8 per cent).
Lab tests and test positivity down
6,908 laboratory tests were performed in Saskatchewan reflecting 5.7 tests performed per 1,000 population.
The number of tests was lower than in the previous week (7,099).
Less than one in fifteen laboratory tests were positive (weekly test positivity of 6.5 per cent), a decrease from the previous week (7.6 per cent); test positivity was highest in South East SK and Regina zones this week.
Hospitalizations down
Total COVID hospitalized are 270, down 51 from the previous week.
The total COVID adult ICU/ICU surge is 14, down 2.
Average daily admissions over past seven days is 18, down 7.
Total COVID related illness is 97, down 28.
Total incidental COVID infection is 164, down 22.
Total patients under investigation is nine, down one.
Deaths are up
There were 22 newly-reported COVID-19 deaths (19 in the previous week).
Omicron BA.2 still dominant
The Omicron BA.2 sublineage accounted for 70.9 per cent of the VOCs reported this week, which was lower than the previous week (94.8 per cent). BA.2 sublineage is more transmissible compared to pre-variant 2020 COVID-19 and BA.1 sublineages, but there is no current evidence of increased severity.
