The Saskatchewan government announced five more deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday and 223 new cases, which brings the total number of provincial infections to 43,926, of which 8,782 are variants of concern.
Two deaths were reported in the far north east zone, one in the 60 to 69 age group and one in the 70 to 79 age group.
Another death was reported in the north central zone in the 70 to 79 age group and two more deaths happened in the north west and Regina zone, both in the age group of 80-plus.
As for new COVID-19 cases, seven are in the far north west, nine are in the far north east, 15 are in the north west, 12 are in the north central, six are in the north east, 71 are in Saskatoon, eight are in the central west, 28 are in the central east, 24 are in Regina, five are in the south west, 17 are in the south central and 15 are in the south east.
The province says six new cases are pending residence information, while one case with pending residence information has now been assigned to the north west zone.
There have been 41,381 recoveries from the virus and 2,032 cases are considered active.
The province says 161 people remain in hospital, with 126 people receiving inpatient care and 35 people in intensive care. Eighteen people in the ICU are in Regina and 14 are in Saskatoon.
The seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan is 212 — 17.3 new cases per 100,000.
The province says it administered 3,415 COVID-19 tests on Tuesday, bringing the total number of administered tests to 812,142.
An additional 8,415 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered since the province’s last report on Wednesday, bringing the total number of administered vaccines to 545,459.
The province says 72 per cent of those over the age of 40 have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 62 per cent of those aged 30 and older and 53 per cent of those aged 18 and older have received their first dose.
The eligibility in Saskatchewan’s provincial age-based immunization program expands to 23 years of age and older beginning at 8 a.m. Friday.