The rest of Saskatchewan is now under some of the same restrictions as Regina. Effective immediately everyone in the province will have to limit their household bubbles to immediate households only. The new Public Health Order will also include limits of worship gathering sizes to allow no more than 30 people as of 12:01 a.m. Friday. The new public health orders are in effect until April 26th. The Regina region has additional restrictions such as all bars and restaurants are closed to in person dining. That restriction has not been put into place elsewhere.

The Vaccination booking system is expanding to Saskatchewan residents aged 52 and older. Those 52 and older can book online or by phone. The vaccine delivery plan is being expanded to include all pregnant women, teens aged 16 and 17 years who are considered extremely vulnerable and everyone over the age of 40 in the far north. Pregnant women and 16 and 17 year olds will receive an eligibility letter from their physician and will need to call the 1-833-SaskVax telephone number to book.

Effective Wednesday, April 14th the Saskatchewan Health Authority will be changing the eligibility to drive-thru immunization clinics to ages 52-54, with the exception of Regina, which will be open to those aged 48-54. For April 14 this change will only affect the drive-thru in Saskatoon, with additional drive-thru sites affected beginning April 15.

There were 288 new cases of COVID-19 reported Tuesday and two new deaths. The deaths of individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 are both in the Regina zone including a person in their thirties and another individual in their sixties.

Variants of concern cases have gone from 181 reported in Saskatoon Monday to 302 Tuesday. The Regina zone still accounts for 66 per cent of the suspected VOC cases.

Daily COVID-19 Statistics

The 288 new cases of COVID-19 bring the provincial total to 36,892 cases.

The new cases are located in the Far North West (4), North West (31), North Central (5), North East (3), Saskatoon (44), Central West (2), Central East (22), Regina (117), South West (18), South Central (17) and South East (17) zones. Eight (8) new cases have pending residence information. Seven cases with pending residence information have been assigned to the North Central (2), Saskatoon (1), Regina (1), South Central (1) and South East (2) zones. There are a total of 33,880 recoveries and 2,555 cases are considered active.

Two hundred and two (202) people are in hospital. One hundred and sixty-one (161) people are receiving inpatient care: Far North West (2), Far North East (1), North West (2), North Central (8), North East (1), Saskatoon (47), Central East (10), Regina (80), South West (3) and South East (7). Forty-one (41) people are in intensive care: North Central (2), Saskatoon (6), Central East (2), Regina (28), South West (1) and South Central (2).

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 271 (22.1 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 3,007 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on April 12, 2021. To date, 710,655 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan. As of April 11, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 596,218 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 766,796 tests performed per million population.

As of April 13, 3,813 variants of concern have been identified by screening in Saskatchewan, reported in the Far North West (8), Far North East (2), North West (28), North Central (44), North East (3), Saskatoon (302), Central West (29), Central East (111), Regina (2,505), South West (40), South Central (329) and South East (371) zones. There are 41 cases with residence pending.

These were previously reported as “presumptive positives,” but all screening tests will be considered confirmed VOCs for the purposes of public reporting and contact investigations.

There were zero (0) new lineage results being reported today. Of the 1,435 VOCs with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 1,426 are B.1.1.1.7 (UK) and nine are B.1.351 (SA). The Regina zone accounts for 1,131 (79 per cent) of the VOC cases with confirmed lineage reported in Saskatchewan.

Please note that these VOC 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.

Regina and Area

Due to increased COVID-19 transmission risk in Regina and area, revisions were made March 24 including: closing all restaurants and licensed establishments for in-person dining; and most event venues supporting 30 persons or less are not permitted to operate. Travel is also not recommended in or out of the Regina area unless absolutely necessary.

Full details on current public health measures can be found at www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-measures.

These Public Health Order measures are in effect until April 26th and will be reviewed at that time.

Residents in the entire province are urged to adhere to best personal protective measures:

-Wear your mask in all public places including all workplaces
-Wash non-medical masks daily
-Maintain physical distancing
-Wash your hands frequently
-Reduce activities outside of your home. Order take-out or curbside pick-up. If you are able to work from home, work from home at this time.
-Avoid all unnecessary travel to and from Regina, Moose Jaw and Weyburn.
-If you have any symptoms, stay home and arrange for a COVID-19 test. If anyone in your home has symptoms, the entire household should remain home until the test results are known. Testing information is available at www.saskatchewan.ca/government/health-care-administration-and-provider-resources/treatment-procedures-and-guidelines/emerging-public-health-issues/2019-novel-coronavirus/testing-information