Saskatchewan has recorded over 500 new COVID-19 cases in a day since the novel coronavirus pandemic was declared. The latest dashboard update from the provincial government website had 506 new cases from 4,294 tests for a positive test rate of 11.8 per cent. The 4,294 tests were the most administered in Saskatchewan since April 24 while the 11.8 per cent positive test rate was the third straight day that the number was in double digits and the 11th time out of 14 days in September that the positive test rate was above 10 per cent. The weekly news release from the provincial government added that daily case numbers will include ages 0-to-11 in the “COVID-19 new cases and vaccination status.” Tuesday’s first such update had two Saskatchewan residents aged 0-to-11 in hospital with neither in an I-C-U. The dashboard added 353 recoveries and two new virus-related fatalities, leaving the active case count in the province at 3,929. From that number, 225 individuals are in hospital, including 43 in an I-C-U.

Starting today, daily case numbers will include ages 0-11 in the “COVID-19 new cases and vaccination status” table available at www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-cases.  This data will be updated seven days a week and will be integrated into the COVID-19 dashboard in the coming weeks.

Note that, as of September 14, two residents ages 0-11 are in hospital; neither of these are in ICU. The Ministry of Health is working on providing hospitalization by age and vaccination status as part of the daily dashboard reporting.  That information will be posted to the COVID-19 dashboard when available.

Test to Protect – Symptomatic Residents Prioritized

Saskatchewan residents may be asked to provide negative COVID-19 test results for the purposes of travel or event admittance.  Note that the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is prioritizing processing symptomatic test results in order to support contact investigations and preventing further transmission.

If you are seeking asymptomatic testing for non-essential purposes, test results may not be available within a specified timeframe.

If you require a negative test due to being unvaccinated/only partially vaccinated, private lab services are available as an option for asymptomatic testing.

Residents and businesses who are interested can learn more by searching “private labs offering COVID-19 testing in Saskatchewan.”

COVID-19 Summary for September 14, 2021: 

• From September 8 – 14, 12,972 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 1,503,385.
• As of September 14, 78 per cent of those 12+ have received their first dose and 70 per cent of those 12+ are fully vaccinated.
• There were 2,842 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan from September 8 – 14, bringing the provincial total to 59,673 cases.  Two thousand and seventy-six recoveries were recorded during the same period.
• The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan is currently 406 (33.7 per 100,000).
• Fourteen new deaths were reported September 8 – 14.
• There was one (1) case confirmed as a Variant of Concern between September 8 – 14.  As of September 13, 2021, the province of Saskatchewan has ceased testing for variant type on all new cases using SNP.  The Delta variant has become the dominant variant in the province of Saskatchewan and maintaining SNP testing on all positive cases reduces the speed at which test results are available.  Whole genome sequencing will continue to identify any emerging variants.
• As of September 14, there are 225 people in hospital: 182 are receiving inpatient care and 43 are in intensive care.  One hundred and seventy of the people in hospital (76 per cent) are not fully vaccinated.
• From September 8 – 14, there were 24,442 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan.

Daily provincial COVID-19 statistics by age, date and geographic zones including active cases, recoveries, confirmed variants of concern and vaccination information can be found at www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-cases.

Highlights