There are 48 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan on June 27, bringing the provincial total to 48,754 cases.

The new cases are located in the following zones: Far North West, 6; Far North Central, 1; Far North East, 5; North West, 2; North Central, 6; Saskatoon, 5; Central West, 1; Central East, 3; Regina, 9; South Central, 1; and South East, 2. Seven new cases are pending residence information.

No new deaths were reported today.

Recoveries total 47,639 and 549 cases are considered active.

There are 77 people in hospital. Sixty-seven are receiving inpatient care: North West, 7; North Central, 10; Saskatoon, 30; Central West, 1; Central East, 3; Regina, 14; and South Central, 2. Ten are in intensive care: North West, 2; North Central, 2; Saskatoon, 4; and Regina, 2.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 case number is 48 (3.9 per 100,000). A chart comparing today’s average to data collected over the past several months is available at https://dashboard.saskatchewan.ca/health-wellness/covid-19/seven-day-average-of-new-covid-cases.

There were 1,295 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan on June 25, 2021.

To date, 912,713 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan. As of June 25 2021, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 769,080 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 961,106.

As of June 26, 12,109 Variants of Concern have been identified by screening in Saskatchewan, reported in the following zones: Far North West, 310; Far North Central, 1; Far North East, 85; North West, 804; North Central, 628; North East, 79; Saskatoon, 2,107; Central West, 146; Central East, 648; Regina, 4,794 South West, 399; South Central, 887; and South East, 1,139. There are 82 screened VOCs with residence pending.

There are no new lineage results reported for Variants of Concern today. Of the 7,119 VOCs with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 6,615 are Alpha (B.1.1.7), 316 are Gamma (P.1), 178 are Delta (B.1.617.2) and 10 are Beta (B.1.351).

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 health care 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.

Limit COVID Transmission in your Community – Get Tested 

Getting tested assists the monitoring of active cases in the province, particularly with variants of concern in Saskatchewan.   Even if experiencing mild symptoms, stay home and seek a COVID-19 test.   Even if you have been recently vaccinated, it can take up to three weeks for your immune system to respond from a first dose and two weeks after a second dose.  Vaccines are not a cure preventing all possible transmission and you remain at risk of contracting COVID-19 during that time.

COVID-19 testing is available to all residents.  You can still receive a referral for COVID-19 testing through HealthLine 811 or a health care provider, and drive-thru testing sites are available without a referral seven days a week in Regina, Saskatoon, Yorkton and Prince Albert.  Information on symptoms to watch for and how to get tested is available at www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-testing.

Saskatchewan’s Re-Opening Roadmap – Step Two Now Underway

Saskatchewan has now entered Step Two of re-opening, with in-person gathering limits increasing across a number of sectors and for private gatherings.  More information on the changes within Step Two of the Re-Opening Roadmap are available at www.saskatchewan.ca/re-open-roadmap.

Guidance for individual sectors has been updated and is available at www.saskatchewan.ca/re-open.

Saskatchewan’s Re-Opening Roadmap – All Public Health Measures to Be Lifted July 11

With more than 70 per cent of residents over the age of 18 having received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, the full implementation of Step 3 of the Re-Opening Roadmap will occur on Sunday, July 11.

That means that as of Sunday, July 11, all public health orders will be removed.  This includes the removal of the province-wide mandatory masking order, and the removal of limits on events and gathering sizes.