There are 249 new cases of COVID-19 and 236 recoveries to report in Saskatchewan on April 20, bringing the provincial total to 38,651 cases.
Six cases with pending residence information were assigned to the Saskatoon (1), Regina (4) and Central West (1) zones. One case found to be an out-of-province resident was removed from the pending residence total. Two (2) cases not previously reported were added to Central East (1) and pending residence (1) totals.
There are 16 new cases in the South East region. Six are in the South East Zone 4, which includes Estevan (91 active cases), six are in South East Zone 3, which includes Weyburn, and four are in South East Zone 1 to the northwest of the corner.
The other new cases are located in the Far North West (2), Far North East (2), North West (19), North Central (17), North East (1), Saskatoon (55), Central West (6), Central East (13), Regina (102), South West (7), and South Central (7) zones. Two (2) new cases have pending residence information.
There are a total of 35,546 recoveries and 2,640 cases are considered active.
One hundred and ninety-five (195) people are in hospital. One hundred and forty-four (144) people are receiving inpatient care: Far North West (1), Far North East (1), North West (3), North Central (5), North East (1), Saskatoon (45), Central West (1), Central East (6), Regina (69), South West (1), South Central (4) and South East (7). Fifty-one (51) people are in intensive care: North Central (2), Saskatoon (10), Central East (1), Regina (35) and South Central (3).
The seven-day average of new COVID-19 case number was 247 (20.2 new cases per 100,000). A chart comparing today's average to data collected over the past several months is available on the Government of Saskatchewan website at https://dashboard.saskatchewan.ca/health-wellness/covid-19/seven-day-average-of-new-covid-cases.
There were 3,243 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on April 19.
To date, 734,832 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan. As of April 18, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan's per capita rate was 616,530 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 790,447 tests performed per million population.
As of April 19, 5,027 variants of concern have been identified by screening in Saskatchewan, reported in the Far North West (35), Far North East (2), North West (89), North Central (64), North East (6), Saskatoon (497), Central West (71), Central East (185), Regina (2,990), South West (118), South Central (404) and South East (500) zones. There are 66 cases with residence pending.
There are one hundred and forty-two (142) new lineage results reported today. Of the 2,060 VOCs with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 2,046 are B.1.1.1.7 (UK), nine (9) are B.1.351 (SA) and five (5) are P.1. (Brazilian). These are the first P.1 (Brazilian) variants detected in the province. The Regina zone accounts for 1,475 (72 per cent) of the VOC cases with confirmed lineage reported in Saskatchewan.
Please note that these VOCs may have been initially identified via means other than screening (i.e. selection for whole genome sequencing without screening) and that whole genome sequencing results to identify lineage are included in the screening results.
Confirmed variant of concern cases may appear in both columns on the website, depending on testing for that case. Adding the cases identified by screening and those that have received whole genome sequencing may result in double-counting individual cases.
Further statistics on the total number of cases among healthcare workers, breakdowns of total cases by source of infection, age, sex and region, total tests to date, per capita testing rate and current numbers of confirmed variants of concern can be found at http://www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-cases.
Vaccination update
An additional 5,278 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 357,447.
The 5,278 doses of COVID-19 vaccine reported today were administered to residents living in the following regions: Far North West (29), Far North Central (2), Far North East (56), North West (154), North Central (540), North East (86), Saskatoon (2,503), Central West (166), Central East (392), Regina (657), South West (32), South Central (262) and South East (256). There were 143 doses administered with zone of residence pending.
All vaccine administration details for the province, including first and second doses, can be found on the dashboard at https://dashboard.saskatchewan.ca/health-wellness. As the source database for vaccine information, Panorama is subject to continuous data updates which may result in revised counts, day over day.
The Pfizer shipments are expected to arrive in Regina and Saskatoon later today. The shipments for North Battleford, Prince Albert, and Yorkton are expected Wednesday, April 21. Saskatchewan Pfizer allocations for the month of May have increased to 63,180 doses and to 74,880 doses for June.
