Lastest COVID update July 8: 113 new cases biggest single-day spike since June 3

There was a jump in new cases of COVID-19 to 113 on Thursday, but no new deaths were reported in Saskatchewan.

The number of new cases is the highest reported in the province in day since 131 were reported June 3, 2021.

According to the provincial government, the rise in cases is due in large part to a previously reported outbreak in the Hatchet Lake area. There were 58 new cases reported in the far northeast zone.

A rapid testing machine provided by the federal government is helping to support quick identification of new COVID-19 case contacts in the area, while positive cases are being manually entered into the provincial system.

Staff working on immediately responding to the outbreak has caused a delay in data entry into the provincial system, prompting additional staffing supports to assist with manually entering the data.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is currently offering assistance to help support the outbreak response. Voluntary mass testing is currently underway and vaccinations are being offered door to door to mitigate the outbreak.

Another 13,314 COVID-19 vaccinations have been given in the province, increasing the total to 1,260,567 doses administered in Saskatchewan.

A look at the numbers

The rest of Thursday’s reported cases came from the Saskatoon (16), Regina (12), far north-central (three), central-east (two), far northwest (two), north-central (two), northwest (two), and central-west (one) zones. Fifteen cases are pending residence information.

There are 415 active cases in the province, and there have been 48,167 recoveries to date.

Saskatchewan’s provincial total of COVID-19 cases is now 49,152.

There are 62 people in hospital in the province with 51 receiving inpatient care: Saskatoon (21), Regina (11), north central (seven), northwest (four), central east (three), southeast (two), central west (one), south central (one) and southwest (one).

Saskatchewan has 11 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units, in the Saskatoon (four), Regina (three), north-central (three) and northwest (one) areas.

There were 2,240 COVID-19 tests processed Wednesday, with 929,868 tests processed to date in the province.

Saskatchewan’s seven-day average for new cases of the virus is 42.

There were 72 lineage results reported for variants of concern (VOC) Thursday. Of the 7,587 VOCs identified by whole genome sequencing, 309 are Delta.

As of Wednesday, 12,238 VOCs have been identified in the province. The VOCs have been located in Regina (4,812), Saskatoon (2,127), southeast (1,148), south central (889), northwest (839), central east (651), north central (634), southwest (409), far northwest (328), central west (149), far northeast (87), northeast (80), far north central (four). Residence pending is listed for 81 screened VOCs.

Vaccination update

The latest vaccine doses reported Thursday were administered to residents living in Saskatoon (3,575), Regina (3,341), north central (1,122), northwest (1,006), southeast (914), central east (815), northeast (590), south central (492), central west (477), southwest (265), far northeast (139), far northwest (135) and far north central (19). Zone of residence was listed as pending for 424 administered doses.

More than half of Saskatchewan residents aged 12 or over — 51 per cent, or 525,000 people — have received both doses and are fully vaccinated.