COVID-19 in Sask: 205 new cases, 123 more presumptive variant of concern cases

Saskatchewan reported 205 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the provincial totalto 31,842.

There are no new confirmed cases involving the more transmissible coronavirus variants of concern (VoC) in Saskatchewan.

However, there are now 748 presumptive positive VoC cases, up from the 625 reported on Sunday.

The presumptive positives are mostly in Regina, which has640 presumptive VoC cases. There are 42 in south central, 39 in the southeast, 18 in Saskatoon, eight in central east, and one in the far northeast.

As of March 22, there are 156 confirmed VoCcases in Saskatchewan: 149 cases of the B1117 variant, and seven cases of the B1351 variant. The Regina zone accounts for 141 casesor 90 per centof the confirmed VoC cases reported in the province.

There are 1,476 active COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan.

The seven-day average of daily new cases in Saskatchewan is 158, or 13 new cases per 100,000 people.

Majority of new cases in Regina

Monday's new cases are in the following provincial zones:

• Far northwest: four.
• Far northeast: 11.
• Northwest: six.
• North central: 13.
• Northeast: nine.
• Saskatoon: 28.
• Central west: one.
• Central east: seven.
• Regina: 102.
• Southwest: one.
• South central: 12.
• Southeast: seven.

The location of four new cases remains pending.

There are currently 143 people in the hospital due to COVID-19, 28 of whom are in the ICU.

Total recoveries rose to 29,948, after 176 more people recovered from the virus.

To date, 633,275 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan, an increase of 2,814 from Sunday.

Regina drive-thru clinic hits a new record

The province says 4,344 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered Sunday.

To date, a total of 144,171 doses have been administered in Saskatchewan.

The majority of doses administered 3,116 were in Regina, followed by 489 doses administered in Saskatoon, 348 doses in central east, 277 in the far northwest and 114 in southeast.

In Regina, a one-day record of 2,362 doseswere given at the drive-thru clinic, the government said.

A total of 31,270 people in Saskatchewan have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Saskatchewan recovers Pfizer doses

Meanwhile, the Public Health Agency of Canada found that four Pfizer thermal shippers that were reported to have been damaged over the weekend were not, the province said.

As a result, the5,850 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine that werebelieved to be delayed will be delivered to Saskatchewan this week as scheduled, the provincial government said.