A third case of the UK COVID-19 variant (B.1.1.7) has been detected in a resident in the Saskatoon zone. The contact investigation has determined that one case has travelled from south east Asia.
The individual was tested mid-January. The individual quarantined following the travel and is now no longer infectious. Public health’s contact investigation indicates that all contacts of this resident have been identified and there is no indication of further transmission. If required, public health will issue a public service announcement to alert the general public to any risk due to any confirmed case of a variant of concern.
While the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory is testing travelers for variants of concern, those tests must be genome-sequenced at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg at this time. This process can take one to two weeks. The RRPL is planning to increase their capacity to complete genome sequencing in Saskatchewan.
Non-essential travel is not recommended at this time. The best protection against all COVID-19 variants remains the same as protection against COVID-19: stay home, physically distance, wash your hands frequently, wear a mask and get tested if you are experiencing even mild symptoms.
The Government of Saskatchewan is considering the impact of variants on COVID-19 planning including any required increase to public health measures and surge capacity planning.
Daily COVID-19 update:
There are 250 new cases of COVID-19 and 232 recoveries to report in Saskatchewan on Feb. 4, bringing the provincial total to date to 24,680 cases.
Seven Saskatchewan residents who tested positive for COVID-19 have died. Two deaths were reported in the 50-59 age group from the Far North West (1) and North West (1) zones. Two deaths were reported in the 60-69 age group from the North West (1) and Saskatoon (1) zones; one death was reported in the 70-79 age group from the South Central zone; and two deaths reported in the 80+ age group from the Saskatoon zone.
There are 11 new cases in South East region, with two in Estevan’s Zone 4 (16 total active cases), three in Zone 1 to northwest of the corner (55 total active cases), one in Zone 2 to the north of the region (23 total active cases) and five in Weyburn’s Zone 3 (24 total active cases).
The other new cases are located in the Far North West (10), Far North Central (6), Far North East (37), North West (24), North Central (22), North East (5), Saskatoon (49), Central West (10), Central East (17), Regina (44) and South Central (10) zones, and five (5) cases with pending residence information.
Eleven cases with pending resident information were assigned to the North Central (8), North East (2) and Regina (1) zones.
A total of 22,086 individuals have recovered and 2,265 cases are considered active.
On-going hospitalization data validation resulted in an under-reporting of total hospitalizations on Feb. 2 and 3.This has been corrected. Note that total hospitalizations (in-patient and ICU) include both infectious and non-infectious COVID-19 cases receiving care.
Two hundred and sixteen (216) people are in hospital. One hundred and eighty-six (186) people are receiving inpatient care: Far North West (4), Far North East (1), North West (21), North Central (26), North East (4), Saskatoon (70), Central West (1), Central East (11), Regina (43), South Central (1) and South East (4). Thirty (30) people are in intensive care: North West (2), North Central (1), Saskatoon (13), Central East (4), and Regina (10).
There were 2,464 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on Feb. 3.
To date, 517,756 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan. As of February 2, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 437,178 tests performed per million population.The national rate was 573,569 tests performed per million population.The seven-day average of daily new cases is 234 (19.1 new cases per 100,000 population).
Vaccination progress:
There were 723 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered yesterday in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 36,527.
The doses were administered in the following zones: Far North Central (17), Far North East (22), North Central (392), North West (83), Central East (11), and Saskatoon (198).
Back-dated corrections submitted to Feb. 2 have realized an additional 41 doses of vaccine administered in the Far North East (22) and Regina (19) zones.
Saskatchewan’s Moderna allocation of 6,000 doses is scheduled to arrive at the RRPL on Feb. 5. It will be distributed to the Far North and North zones to provide second doses as well as to Central West, specifically Kindersley and Rosetown, for first doses.
For a listing of first and second doses in Saskatchewan administered by geographic zone, visit https://www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-vaccine-update.
