The province’s Thursday COVID-19 update includes 293 new cases of the virus, 223 recoveries and another two people have died.
One person from the Regina zone was in their seventies and the other in the eighty and over age group was from the Southeast.
There are 188 people in the hospital including 41 in intensive care.
The Regina area has the largest number of new cases with 87, followed by Saskatoon with 74.
The province is reporting 4,183 variants of concern which is an increase of 282 from Wednesday.
The age eligibility is lowering for vaccines by appointment to 48 years and over as of Friday morning at 8 a.m.
The age for drive-through and walk-in clinics has changed from 52 and older today (Thurs) to 51 to 54 year olds and then as of Friday, all drive-through clinics will expand to residents from 48 to 54.
Regina’s drive-through age lowers to 46 through 54 year olds tomorrow.

Additional details for drive-thru and walk-in clinics can be found at: www.saskatchewan.ca/drive-thru-vax.

Wait-times for drive-thru and walk-in clinics can be found at: COVID-19 Vaccine Drive Thru Wait Times.

Vaccines Reported
An additional 7,956 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 315,405.
The 7,956 doses of COVID-19 vaccine reported today were administered to residents living in the following regions: Far North West (220), Far North Central (2), Far North East (134), North West (619), North Central (224), North East (39), Saskatoon (1,888), Central West (146), Central East (715), Regina (2,777), South West (116), South Central (389) and South East (420). There were 267 doses administered with zone of residence pending.

Fifty-six per cent of Saskatchewan residents age 50+ have received their first dose:

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.

Vaccination Booking System Open to Ages 48+ Friday
In an effort to continue to protect residents as quickly as possible, the eligible age for booking vaccination appointments online or by telephone will be lowered to 48 years starting at 8:00 a.m. Friday, April 16. Online appointments can be made by visiting www.saskatchewan.ca/COVID19. People who do not have a cell phone or email account or need assistance can book by calling 1-833-SaskVax (1-833-727-5829).

Additional information on how to book your appointment is available at www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-vaccine-booking.

Drive Thru Vaccination Clinics Open to 51-54 Today, 48-54 Years Friday
Today (Thurs), all drive thru and walk-in COVID-19 vaccination clinics will be available to residents 51-54 years. Starting Friday, April 16, all vaccination drive thru clinics will expand eligibility to residents from 48-54 years.
NOTE: This does not include Regina. The Regina COVID-19 vaccine drive thru will be available to residents 46-54 years starting Friday, April 16.
All drive thru clinics are first come first serve. For further information on drive-thru clinics in the province, including hours of operation and wait times, see www.saskhealthauthority.ca/news/service-alerts-emergency-events/Pages/COVID-19-Vaccine-Drive-Thru-Wait-Times.aspx.

Daily COVID-19 Statistics
There are 293 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan on April 15, bringing the provincial total to 37,384 cases. One (1) case with pending residence information has been found to be an out-of-province resident and removed from the counts. Seven (7) cases that were tested out of province have been added to the North West (1), Saskatoon (3), Regina (1) and South East (2) zones.
There are two new deaths to report today. One death was reported in the 70-79 age group from the Regina zone. One death was reported in the 80+ age group from the South East zone.

The new cases are located in the Far North West (8), North West (24), North Central (8), North East (5), Saskatoon (74), Central West (15), Central East (22), Regina (87), South West (4), South Central (4) and South East (24) zones. Eighteen (18) new cases have pending residence information. Five cases with pending residence information have been assigned to the North West (1), Regina (3) and South East (1) zones. There are a total of 34,325 recoveries and 2,599 cases are considered active.

One hundred and eighty-eight (188) people are in hospital. One hundred and forty-seven (147) people are receiving inpatient care: Far North West (1), Far North East (1), North West (3), North Central (6), North East (2), Saskatoon (40), Central East (10), Regina (73), South West (1), South Central (1) and South East (9). Forty-one (41) people are in intensive care: North Central (1), Saskatoon (9), Central East (2), Regina (27), South West (1) and South Central (1).

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 284 (23.2 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 3,573 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on April 14, 2021.
To date, 717,486 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan. As of April 13, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 601,533 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 772,612 tests performed per million population.

As of April 15, 4,183 variants of concern have been identified by screening in Saskatchewan, reported in the Far North West (10), Far North East (2), North West (51), North Central (48), North East (4), Saskatoon (372), Central West (44), Central East (135), Regina (2,673), South West (67), South Central (342) and South East (398) zones. There are 37 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 1,138 (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.

Public Health Measures
Due to increased COVID-19 transmission risk in Saskatchewan, the Chief Medical Health Officer announced amendments to the Public Health Order.
Effective April 13, household bubbles are limited to immediate household members only for all of Saskatchewan. Persons who live alone and single parents of minor children are permitted to meet with one consistent household of less than five individuals. Co-parenting arrangements are permitted to continue. Caregivers, support personnel and tradespersons who are not a member of the household are not included in the maximum number of people allowed in that household.
The new Public Health Order will also include limits on worship gathering sizes to allow no more than 30 people effective 12:01 tomorrow (Friday, April 16).

Full details on current public health measures, including the additional measures in effect for Regina and area, can be found at www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-measures.
These Public Health Order measures are in effect until April 26 and will be reviewed at that time.
Residents are also 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 throughout the province at this time

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.