New cases of COVID-19 and the number of people in hospital due to the novel coronavirus are both down in Saskatchewan, according to provincial government’s weekly integrated epidemiology report.

There were 766 new cases reported between April 24-30, a drop from the 829 reported for the week ending April 23. As of Wednesday, there were 390 people with COVID-19 in Saskatchewan health-care facilities, down from the 409 reported last Thursday. There were also 20 people in an I-C-U, the same as last week’s report. In addition, 14 more people have died due to COVID-19 in Saskatchewan in the last week, upping the provincial death total due to COVID-19 to 1,324. Following are the highlights of the weekly update from the Ministry of Health…..

COVID-19 WEEKLY EPI REPORT

50 Years and Older, Get Boosted

Omicron is the dominant COVID-19 virus circulating in the province with BA.2 accounting for 83 per cent of the variants of concern reported this week yet only a little more than half of residents 18 years and up have had at least one booster vaccination.

Additional doses are strongly recommended for optimal protection against Omicron.  From February 13 to April 16, 2022, an unvaccinated person was five times more likely to be hospitalized, nine times more likely to be admitted to ICU, and seven times more likely to die from COVID-19 than an individual with three doses.

• All residents 12 years and older are eligible to receive a third dose (first booster) four months after their second dose.
• All residents 50 years and older are eligible to receive a fourth dose (second booster) four months after their last dose.

If you have designated medical conditions, you may be able to receive your additional dose within three months.

It’s never too late to get your COVID-19 vaccination and getting boosted matters.  Book your appointment today.

Weekly COVID-19 Epi Report

Issued Thursdays, the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 integrated epidemiology (epi) report utilizes multiple data sources and includes laboratory-confirmed cases, deaths, tests, vaccination information provincially and by zones, as well as hospital and ICU census trends and distribution of rapid antigen tests. The epi report this week looks at data from Sunday, April 24 to Saturday, April 30, 2022. The hospitalization data is a comparison from April 27 to May 4, 2022.

The integrated epi report can be found online at saskatchewan.ca/COVID-19-cases.

Summary for the week of April 24-30, 2022

• 7,337 laboratory tests were performed in Saskatchewan reflecting 6.1 tests performed per 1,000 population. The number of tests was higher than the number of tests in the previous week (6,951).
• One in ten laboratory tests were positive (weekly test positivity of 10.1 per cent), which is a decrease from the previous week (11.7 per cent).
• 766 new cases were confirmed reflecting about 0.6 laboratory-confirmed cases per 1,000 population, lower than the number of new cases in the previous week (829).
• The majority of laboratory-confirmed cases this week were 50 years and older (56 per cent).
• There were 572 new lineage results reported this week. Of the 572 variants of concern identified by whole genome sequencing, 100 per cent were Omicron. BA.2 sublineage is more transmissible compared to pre-variant 2020 COVID-19 and BA.1 sublineages but there is no current evidence of increased severity.
• The Omicron BA.2 sublineage accounted for 83.4 per cent of the variants of concern reported this week, which was higher compared to the previous week.
• There were 14 newly-reported COVID-19 deaths, unchanged compared to the previous week (14).
• During the two months period from February 13 to April 16, 2022, the risk of hospitalization, ICU admission and death was five, nine and seven times higher respectively among unvaccinated individuals compared to those vaccinated with three doses of a two-dose vaccine.
• There were 36.4 COVID-like illness patients per 1,000 emergency department visits which was lower than the average weekly rate in the previous six weeks (37.3 per week/1,000 visits).
• 17 confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care and care home settings were reported this week.
• As of April 30, 2022, of the population five years and older, 85.8 per cent received at least one dose of a two dose COVID-19 vaccine and 80.8 per cent completed a series.
• Among the population 18 years and older, 52 per cent had received at least one booster vaccination.
• As of the week of May 2, there have been 368 Paxlovid prescriptions and two Remdesivir treatments provided.
• More than 20.3 million rapid antigen test kits have been distributed in the province. They are easily accessible at more than 600 locations.