Sask. reports 151 new COVID-19 cases and 1 more death - CTV News

REGINA -- The Saskatchewan government recorded 151 new COVID-19 cases and one additional death on Wednesday, along with 189 recoveries.

The person who died was in their 40s and from the Saskatoon zone.

The new cases are located in the Far Northwest (one), Far North Central (two), Northwest (16), North Central (eight), Northeast (two), Saskatoon (51), Central West (two), Central East (one), Regina (32), Southwest (five), South Central (11) and Southeast (six). Four cases are pending location information.

There are 133 people in hospital. Twenty-seven of those people are in the ICU in the Northwest (two), North Central (three), Saskatoon (11), Central East (one) and Regina (10) zones.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases is 141. There are 1,442 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.

VACCINATIONS

There were 4,654 doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered across Saskatchewan on Tuesday.

So far, 63 per cent of people age 18 and older have received their first dose.

Residents age 80 and older and those who received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose before March 1, are eligible for their second doses. The age eligibility for first doses remains at 12 years and older.

VARIANTS OF CONCERN

Labs identified 76 more variant cases, according to the government. The province said 10,317 cases have been marked as variants of concern (VoC).

The government reported 75 new lineage results Wednesday. Of the 5,711 VoCs with a variant type identified by whole genome sequencing, 5,528 are B.1.1.1.7, which was first identified in the U.K.; 144 are P.1, the variant first seen in Brazil; 29 are the B.1.617 variant identified in India; and 10 are B.1.351, first identified in South Africa.

REOPENING STEP TWO TO BEGIN JUNE 20

With less than a week to go before the first step in Saskatchewan’s reopening plan comes into effect, the province has cleared the second milestone in the strategy.

The province reported more than 70 per cent of residents over 30 years old have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Step Two of the Reopening Roadmap is to begin three weeks after the threshold is cleared.

ASTRAZENECA 2ND DOSES TO BECOME AVAILABLE FOR SASK. RESIDENTS

Doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine will be headed into the arms of Saskatchewan residents in the coming weeks.

The province plans to use the AstraZeneca vaccine for second doses only. Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer, said the optimum time for the second dose of AstraZeneca is 12 weeks after the first, so there is still some time to go as most first doses of the shot were given at the Regina drive-thru clinic in mid-March.

Health officials were previously considering using the Pfizer vaccine as second doses for residents who received the AstraZeneca vaccine because of uncertainty surrounding the supply.

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Sask. reports 151 new COVID-19 cases and 1 more death - CTV News
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