COVID-19: Saskatchewan reports 208 new cases, 3 new deaths

Saskatchewan officials’ reported the latest COVID numbers Thursday, including more than 200 new cases and three deaths.

There were 208 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 out of 5,372 tests for the week of June 19-25. The test positivity in the Regina zone doubled from 3.4 per cent to 7.0 per cent.

The majority of laboratory-confirmed cases this week, 57.2 per cent, were among those 50 years and older.

Officials stated in the report that rates should be interpreted with caution because they do not include cases detected by home rapid-antigen test kits.

The province also reported three new COVID-19 deaths last week where one death occurred on June 18 but was reported this week.

There were 168 new lineage results reported involving variants of concern (VOC), according to the epidemiology report. Officials said 100 per cent were Omicron. While no BA.4 sublineage was detected this week, BA.5 sublineage has increased this week to 3.6 per cent, compared to 1.1 per cent in the previous week.

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In hospital, there were 119 patients with COVID-19, including four in adult ICU. There are 10 patients under investigation to determine their conditions.

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“Vaccination remains the best protection against severe outcomes of COVID-19 infection,” according to health officials in the report. “From December 20, 2021 to May 21, 2022, unvaccinated individuals had a 3 times higher risk of hospitalization and 6 times higher risk of ICU admission and death compared to three-dose recipients.”

As of June 25, 86 per cent of people aged five years and older had received at least one vaccine dose and 81.2 per cent had completed a series, unchanged from the previous week. According to the epidemiology report, Regina is the only zone reporting over the Saskatchewan proportion for a completed series.

During the week of June 19 to 25, the province reported, 3,429 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered. Of those, 214 were pediatric doses and 2,967 were booster doses. Health officials report that the total number of booster doses this week has declined compared to the previous week.

Three COVID-19 outbreaks were reported this week – all in the Regina zone – compared to two last week.

According to the epidemiology report, in the past six weeks 16 outbreaks occurred in long term care facilities, six in personal care homes, and three in group homes. Fifteen of the 25 outbreaks reported in the past six weeks are ongoing.

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