Latest COVID update March 28: 125 new variant cases, new cases outweigh recoveries, three deaths

Regina continues to be the center of new COVID cases in Saskatchewan.

In a Sunday news release, the Ministry of Health reported 130 new cases in the Queen City.

The province’s other cases were in the Saskatoon (24), southeast (32), far northwest (four), far northeast (four), northwest (four), north-central (16), northeast (four), central-west (one), central-east (10), southwest (one) and south-central (17) regions. The location is still under investigation for one new case.

Active cases rose for the fifth day in a row. The new cases, along with 112 recoveries, raise the active total to 1,950.

The seven-day average of daily new cases now sits at 200, or 16.3 cases per 100,000 people.

Three people also died with the virus. There were two deaths in the Regina zone in the 80+ age group and one in the southeast area in the 80+ age group. That brings the total to 433 since March.

An additional 125 COVID variants were identified in the province. So far, there have been 1,365 variants identified in the Regina (1,126), south-central (104), southeast (91), central-east (25), Saskatoon (18), far northeast (one) and central-east (one) zones.

The ministry continues to stress that variants are spreading in the Moose Jaw area, and is urging people in that region to follow the same guidelines that have been imposed on Regina.

Those include limiting indoor gatherings to only members of your immediate household.

There are 155 people in hospital across Saskatchewan, including 27 in the ICU in the Regina (17), Saskatoon (six), central-east (two), southeast (one) and southwest (one) zones.

Since the pandemic hit Saskatchewan, there have been 33,031 total cases, 30,648 recoveries and 433 deaths.

Vaccination Update

Thousands of people continue to get their vaccines every day.

The Ministry of Health reported that 6,187 new doses were given in its Sunday update, raising the total so far to 173,696.

Those doses were given in the Regina (1,469), Saskatoon (1,917), south-central (1,252), central-east (1,113), north-central (425) and far northeast (11) areas.