Saskatchewan reported a decrease in COVID-19 activity during the week of May 1-7.
New confirmed cases were down a bit to 710 from 765 the previous week, and lab tests decreased to 7-thousand 99 from 7-thousand 337 the previous week.
Of the new cases, 210 are in the Saskatoon area, 123 in the Regina area, 124 in the North (65 in North West, 42 in North Central, 17 in North East), 114 in the South (18 in South West, 30 in South Central, 66 in South East), 85 in the Central (14 in Central West, 71 in Central East), 19 in the Far North (11 in Far North West, 1 in Far North Central, 7 in Far North East), and 35 pending a location.
The province noted the test positivity rate was highest in the South East at 13.5% and in the Central East at 10.4%, while provincially its 7.6 percent.
There was a drop in hospitalizations due to COVID to 321, compared to 390 the previous week, and there was an increase in COVID-related deaths by 5, to 19.
As of May 7, 85.8 percent of residents 5-years-and-older received one dose of a two-dose vaccine, and 80.9 per cent have completed a series. Among the population 18 years and older, 52.2 per cent had received at least one booster dose.
There was a decrease in COVID-19 outbreaks reported in long-term care and care-home settings, to 10 outbreaks from 17 the previous week.
Summary for the week of May 1-7, 2022
- Less than one in ten laboratory tests were positive. The weekly test positivity of 7.6 per cent is a decrease from the previous week (10.1 per cent). Test positivity was highest in rural South East and Central East zones this week.
- Almost half of laboratory-confirmed cases this week were 50 years and older (49.3 per cent).
- There were 252 new lineage results reported this week. Of the 252 variants of concern identified by whole genome sequencing, 100 per cent were Omicron.
- The Omicron BA.2 sublineage accounted for 94.8 per cent of the variants of concern reported this week, which was higher than the previous week (83.4 per cent). BA.2 sublineage is more transmissible compared to pre-variant 2020 COVID-19 and BA.1 sublineages but there is no current evidence of increased severity.
- There were 19 newly-reported COVID-19 deaths (14 in the previous week).
- Other respiratory viruses have higher test positivity in Saskatchewan than COVID-19. Currently, the majority of other respiratory virus detections in the province were processed by labs in Saskatoon and the Far North.
- Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – 14 per cent test positivity
- Influenza – 12 per cent test positivity
- Enterorhinovirus – 11 per cent test positivity
- There were 30.3 COVID-like illness patients per 1,000 emergency department visits which was lower than the average weekly rate in the previous six weeks (38.4 per week/1,000 visits).
- Ten confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care and care home settings were reported this week.
- As of May 7, 2022, of the population five years and older, 85.8 per cent have received at least one dose of a two dose COVID-19 vaccine and 80.9 per cent have completed a series.
- Among the population 18 years and older, 52.2 per cent had received at least one booster vaccination.
- As of the week of May 8, there have been 397 Paxlovid prescriptions and two Remdesivir treatments provided.
- More than 20.4 million rapid antigen test kits have been distributed in the province. They are easily accessible at more than 600 locations.