Sask. COVID-19 update for the week of March 13-19

by

Ryan Young

Saskatchewan released the weekly COVID-19 report today (Thurs), for the week of March 13-19.

895 new positive cases were recorded from 7,488 tests.

Of those, 21 cases are in the Far North region (13 in the Far North West and 8 in the Far North East), 178 in the North (95 in the North West, 36 in the North Central and 47 in the North East), 195 in the Saskatoon area, 118 in the Central area (27 in the Central West and 91 in the Central East), 169 in the Regina area, 178 in the South (35 in the South West, 60 in the South Central, and 83 in the South East) and 36 are pending a location.

As of yesterday (Wed), a total of 306 people are in hospital due to COVID-19, an increase of 6 from the previous week, and there are 19 in ICU, an increase of 1.

There were 33 reported COVID-19 deaths, up from 28 deaths the previous week.

Ten confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks remain in long-term care and care home settings.

As of March 19, 85.7 percent of residents 5-and-older received one COVID-19 vaccine dose, 80.5 percent two doses, and 51.2 percent of people 18-and-older received a booster dose.

Summary for the week of March 13-19, 2022

  • 7,488 laboratory tests were performed in Saskatchewan reflecting 6.2 tests performed per 1,000 population.
  • The number of tests was about 10 per cent higher than the number of tests in the previous week (6,826).
  • More than one in nine laboratory tests were positive (weekly test positivity of 11.7 per cent), similar to the previous week.
  • 895 new cases were confirmed reflecting about 0.7 laboratory-confirmed cases per 1,000 population.
  • The number of new laboratory-confirmed cases was about eight per cent higher than the number of new cases in the previous week (832).
  • There were 147 new lineage results reported this week. Of the 147 variants of concern identified by whole genome sequencing, all were Omicron.
  • The Omicron BA.2 sublineage accounted for 25.9 per cent of the VOCs reported this week, an increase from 5.4 per cent the previous week.
  • There were 33 newly reported COVID-19 deaths, about 18 per cent more than in the previous week (28).
  • There were 29.7 COVID-like illness patients per 1,000 emergency department visits which is lower than the average weekly rate in the previous six weeks (38.1 per week/1,000 visits).
  • Ten (10) confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care and care home settings were reported this week.
  • As of March 19, of the population five years and older, 85.7 per cent received at least one dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine and 80.5 per cent completed a series.
  • Among the population 18 years and older, 51.2 per cent had received at least one booster vaccination.
  • As of the week of March 21, there have been 113 Paxlovid prescriptions provided and 280 monoclonal antibody infusion treatments administered.
  • More than 19.2 million rapid antigen test kits that have been distributed in the province. They are easily accessible at 630 locations.

More from GX94 Radio