Saskatchewan’s 7-day average for new COVID-19 infections at 181

Saskatchewan added two COVID-19-related deaths for a total of 422, the provincial government said on Thursday.

One of the recently deceased was reported in their 40s from the north central zone, while the other was in their 70s from central east, according to a press release.

According to the government on Thursday, there were 168 new COVID-19 cases with the overall infection total in Saskatchewan now at 32,346. The new seven-day average of daily cases is up from 173 on Wednesday to 181.

The provincial government said 1,064 variants of concern (VOC) cases have been identified in Saskatchewan and were reported in the far north east (1), north central (1), Saskatoon (18), central east (20), Regina (895), south central (63) and south east (66) zones.

Officials reported 118 new lineage results on Thursday for a total of 478 VOCs identified by whole-genome sequencing and are broken down into 470 B.1.1.7 and eight are B1.351.  They added the Regina zone accounts for 84 per cent of 400 of the VOC cases with confirmed lineage reported in the province.

1:54 Saskatchewan’s top doctor says he’s monitoring rising COVID-19 cases with variants of concern in Weyburn and Moose Jaw

The province’s hospitals are currently providing care for 154 patients with COVID-19 — 132 are receiving inpatient care and 22 are in intensive care.

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Active cases, which are total cases minus recoveries and deaths, now sit at 1,623 in Saskatchewan, according to the press release.

The total number of people who have recovered from the virus has grown to 30,301 following 105 more recoveries, provincial health officials said.

According to the press release, 3,370 COVID-19 tests were performed on Wednesday. To date, 643,629 tests have been carried out in the province.

A total of 155,754 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Saskatchewan, provincial government officials said.

1:46 Regina and area businesses react to new round of COVID-19 restrictions

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 web page.