There are 224 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan on March 27, bringing the provincial total to 32,783 cases.
There are 11 new cases in the South East region, including three new cases in South East Zone 4, which includes Estevan. There are also five new cases in South East Zone 3, which is west of Zone 4 and includes Weyburn, and three in Zone 2, to the north of Zone 4.
The other new cases in Saskatchewan are located in the Far North West (4), Far North East (2), North West (10), North Central (9), North East (13), Saskatoon (28), Central West (4), Central East (3), Regina (122) and South Central (18) zones.
Eighty-seven more people have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 30,536 recoveries. Five of the recoveries are in the South East region.
A total of 1,817 cases are considered active.
One hundred fifty-two (152) people are in hospital. One hundred and twenty-seven (127) people are receiving inpatient care: Far North East (1), North West (5), North Central (7), North East (1), Saskatoon (38), Central East (9), Regina (56), South West (1), South Central (1) and South East (8). The number of people in the South East in hospital is down two from March 26.
Twenty-five (25) people are in intensive care: Saskatoon (5), Central East (2), Regina (16), South West (1) and South Central (1).
There are no new deaths to report on March 27.
The seven-day average of daily new cases is 190 (15.5 new cases per 100,000). A chart comparing today's average to data collected over the past several months is available on the Government of Saskatchewan website.
There were 4,103 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on March 26, including 291 in the South East region.
To date, 652,355 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan. As of March 25, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan's per capita rate was 545,282 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 713,326 tests performed per million population.
Variants of concern (VoC) are beginning to rise across southern Saskatchewan, particularly in the Moose Jaw area. As of March 26, 1,240 variants of concern (VOC) have been identified by screening in Saskatchewan, reported in the Far North East (1), Saskatoon (18), Central West (1), Central East (24), Regina (1,041), South Central (80) and South East (75) zones.
These have previously been reported as "presumptive positives" but all screening tests will be considered confirmed VOCs for the purposes of public reporting and contact investigations.
There are 21 new lineage results reported today. Of the 494 VOCs with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 486 are B1.1.1.7 (UK) and eight are B1.351 (SA). The Regina zone accounts for 410 (or 83 per cent) of the VOC cases with confirmed lineage reported in Saskatchewan. Please note that these VOCs may have been initially identified via means other than screening (i.e. selection for whole genome sequencing without screening) and that whole genome sequencing results to identify lineage are included in the screening results.
Confirmed variant of concern cases may appear in both columns on the website, depending on testing for that case. Adding the cases identified by screening and those that have received whole genome sequencing may result in double-counting individual cases.
Further statistics on the total number of cases among healthcare workers, breakdowns of total cases by source of infection, age, sex and region, total tests to date, the per capita testing rate and current numbers of confirmed variants of concern can be found on the Government of Saskatchewan website.
An additional 4,814 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 167,509.
The 4,814 doses of COVID-19 vaccine reported were administered in the following regions: Far North Central (10), Far North East (11), North West (203), North Central (239), Saskatoon (1,517), Central East (1,371), Regina (1,372) and South Central (91).
The appointment booking system is currently available to residents 62 years and older. These residents are encouraged to book their COVID-19 vaccinations and can do so online or by phone. Additional information on how to book your appointment is available at www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-vaccine-booking.
Almost three-quarters of Saskatchewan residents in their 80s and more than a third of residents in their 70s have now received their first dose of vaccine:
