Saskatchewan has hit another milestone, surpassing 30,000 total coronavirus infections since the pandemic began.
According to the provincial government on Wednesday, there were 111 new infections and the new seven-day average of daily cases is down from 141 to 139, day-over-day.
The province added one new COVID-19-related death for a total of 401, read a press release. The recently deceased was reported in the 80-plus age group from the Regina zone.
The government says a total of 70 COVID-19 variant cases have been confirmed in Saskatchewan. As of Wednesday, an additional 26 cases of variant B.1.1.7, which was first discovered in the United Kingdom (U.K.), have been detected in the Regina zone.
These cases include sequencing results from the National Microbiology Laboratory and the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory (RRPL) on samples collected between Feb. 2 and 28, according to officials.
The government said, as of Wednesday, all positive COVID-19 cases will have a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) test performed to screen for a mutation that is common to all three variants of concern (VOC).
“The (RRPL) can also screen for VOCs using a SNP analysis which looks for a common mutation associated with all three VOCs,” read a government statement.
“SNP tests are faster and will be done on all positive tests with results within 24 hours, once a COVID-19 positive sample is identified or received at the testing laboratory.
“A positive result on a SNP test will be considered presumptively positive while whole-genome sequencing is completed to determine the VOC type, which takes about a week.”
The province’s hospitals are currently providing care for 139 patients with COVID-19 — 112 are receiving inpatient care and 27 are in intensive care.
Active cases, which are total cases minus recoveries and deaths, now sit at 1,384 in Saskatchewan, according to the press release. This is the lowest amount reported since there were 1,363 on Nov. 11, 2020.
The number of people who have recovered from the virus has grown to a total of 28,244 following 140 more recoveries, provincial health officials said.
According to the press release, 2,399 COVID-19 tests were performed on Tuesday. To date, 600,142 tests have been carried out in the province.
A total of 28,053 second doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Saskatchewan, provincial government officials said.
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. In some provinces and municipalities across the country, masks or face coverings are now mandatory in indoor public spaces.
For full COVID-19 coverage visit the Global News coronavirus webpage.
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