Latest COVID update Sept. 24: 528 new cases, 276 in hospital, 5 deaths

Numbers continued to rise across the COVID-19 board in Saskatchewan on Friday.

The totals of hospitalizations and ICU patients again set records, the number of new cases was the second-highest ever reported in the province, and vaccinations reached their highest daily total in a month.

The Ministry of Health said there were 276 COVID patients in Saskatchewan hospitals, breaking the province’s record for the sixth straight day. The 61 ICU cases also were an all-time high, exceeding the previous high of 58 set Thursday.

The 528 new cases reported were exceeded only by the 543 announced Monday. The total reported Friday included 120 kids aged 11 and under, the only group that currently isn’t eligible to get vaccinated.

Shortly after announcing that 80 per cent of all eligible Saskatchewan residents had received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, the province said 5,066 doses had been administered in the latest reporting period.

That’s the most since more than 27,000 shots were given on Aug. 24.

There also were five more deaths announced, the 20th straight day the province recorded at least one death due to COVID.

A total of 53 people have died as a result of the virus in that span. Since the pandemic started, 663 Saskatchewan residents have died due to COVID.

A look at the numbers

The new cases were reported in the northwest (96), Saskatoon (96), north-central (57), Regina (48), far northwest (37), southeast (34), south-central (32), southwest (28), central-east (20), far northeast (18), northeast (16) and central-west (15) zones. There also were 31 cases without a definitive hometown.

The seven-day average of new cases stands at 478.

The new cases included 426 people who hadn’t received a COVID vaccination. In addition to the aforementioned children under 12, there also were 65 people between the ages of 20 and 29, 63 people in their 30s, 57 children aged 12 to 19, and 53 individuals in their 40s.

There were 75 new cases among people who were fully vaccinated and 27 among those who were were partially vaccinated.

To date, Saskatchewan has reported 64,402 cases.

Three of the latest fatalities were in the 60-to-79 age range, with one in each of the 40-to-59 and 80-and-over age groups. There were two deaths reported in the Regina region and one in each of the northwest, north-central and southwest zones.

Active cases climbed to 4,734, the most since the record high of 4,763 was announced Dec. 7.

There were 503 recoveries reported, increasing that total so far to 59,005.

According to the province, 215 of the people in hospitals with COVID aren’t fully vaccinated.

Vaccination update

The latest total of vaccinations included 2,910 first doses and 2,156 second doses — the seventh straight day the total of first doses has matched or exceeded the total of second shots.

So far in the province, more than 1.5 million doses of COVID vaccines have been delivered. There are 725,237 people who have received two doses.