Latest COVID update Nov. 3: 173 new cases, 3 deaths, 1,765 active cases

More than 800,000 Saskatchewan residents have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines and are considered fully vaccinated.

In its daily COVID update Wednesday, the Ministry of Health said 1,662 second shots were given in the latest reporting period, pushing the total to date to 800,031.

There also were 666 first doses administered. In total, there have been more than 1.67 million shots given so far in the province.

The ministry also reported 173 new infections, 234 recoveries and three deaths.

Two people from the Regina region died as a result of COVID, as did a resident of the central-east region. There was one death reported in each of the 40-to-59, 60-to-79 and 80-and-over age groups.

To date, 862 Saskatchewan residents have died from COVID.

The number of active cases fell to 1,765, the 12th straight day that number had dropped.

There are 226 COVID patients in Saskatchewan hospitals, an increase of four from Tuesday’s report. The hospitalizations include 51 people in intensive care, up three from the day before.

As well, 25 Saskatchewan ICU patients are receiving treatment in Ontario.

A look at the numbers

The new cases were reported in the Saskatoon (51), Regina (24), central-east (23), southeast (17), north-central (14), far northeast (10), far northwest (nine), northwest (eight), southwest (four), northeast (three), central-west (two) and south-central (two) zones.

The hometowns of six cases are pending.

The new cases comprised 120 people who weren’t vaccinated, 45 who were fully vaccinated and eight who were partially vaccinated.

Among the unvaccinated, 52 were children under the age of 11. That age group currently isn’t eligible to get vaccinated, although Health Canada is considering a request from Pfizer to approve its vaccine for those between the ages of five and 11.

The new cases reported Wednesday were detected in 2,408 tests, resulting in a test positivity rate of 7.2.

To date, there have been 78,075 cases reported in Saskatchewan, along with 75,448 recoveries.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases in the province is 177, or 14.7 per 100,000 people.