For a second straight day, Saskatchewan has a record number of new cases of COVID-19.
According to Friday’s dashboard reading from the provincial government website, there were 1,170 new cases of the novel coronavirus from 3,778 COVID-19 tests performed Thursday, a positive test rate of 31 percent, the highest single day positive rate since the pandemic was declared 22 months ago. With 164 recoveries and no new virus-related deaths, Saskatchewan’s active case count is at 6,254. The confirmed number of Omicron cases is up to 629 while the probable number of Omicron cases remains at 2,245 cases. However, the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory is reporting that 95 per cent of new cases are Omicron cases. Based on this percentage, it is assumed that all new COVID-19 cases in the province.
Cases infected with a variant of concern (VoC), as of January 7, 2022
| Zone | VoCs Detected by Screening * |
VoCs Sequenced (WGS) |
Alpha (B.1.1.7) | Beta (B.1.351) | Gamma (P.1) | Delta (B.1.617.2) | Omicron (B.1.1.529) | Total Omicron VOC probable (Positive Screen) |
| Far North West | 339 | 781 | 212 | 23 | 546 | 8 | ||
| Far North Central | 4 | 88 | 4 | 84 | ||||
| Far North East | 100 | 687 | 56 | 12 | 604 | 15 | 21 | |
| North West | 883 | 1,545 | 351 | 251 | 925 | 18 | 62 | |
| North Central | 668 | 1,448 | 345 | 9 | 26 | 1,057 | 11 | 44 |
| North East | 87 | 452 | 66 | 2 | 382 | 2 | 32 | |
| Saskatoon | 2,196 | 3,546 | 1,137 | 1 | 127 | 2,047 | 234 | 460 |
| Central West | 149 | 305 | 107 | 2 | 178 | 18 | 34 | |
| Central East | 655 | 1,268 | 405 | 5 | 838 | 20 | 124 | |
| Regina | 4,835 | 4,620 | 2,838 | 5 | 1,586 | 189 | 920 | |
| South West | 416 | 602 | 252 | 26 | 315 | 9 | 66 | |
| South Central | 894 | 1,039 | 635 | 2 | 370 | 32 | 173 | |
| South East | 1,158 | 1,669 | 693 | 1 | 940 | 35 | 195 | |
| Pending | 77 | 246 | 22 | 2 | 178 | 46 | 106 | |
| Totals | 12,461 | 18,296 | 7,123 | 10 | 484 | 10,050 | 629 | 2,245 |
Note that the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory is reporting that 95 per cent of new cases are Omicron cases, based on SNP testing. Based on this percentage, it is assumed that all new COVID-19 cases in the province are Omicron and the RRPL will cease performing SNP testing on new samples. All specimens from international travellers who test positive in Saskatchewan will continue to undergo whole genome sequencing to determine their lineage, as well as randomly selected cases from across the province to continue surveillance of circulating virus.
Highlights
- As of January 7th, there are 1,170 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 89,821 reported cases.
- The new cases are located in the Far North West (15), Far North Central (2), Far North East (8), North West (39), North Central (41), North East (14), Saskatoon (259), Central West (19), Central East (106), Regina (314), South West (48), South Central (49) and South East (131) zones and 125 new cases have pending residence information.
- Nine (9) cases were assigned to the North West (from April 16, 2021 (1), January 1 (3), January 3 (2)), North Central (from December 31 (1)), Central East (from January 3 (1)), and Regina (from December 31, 2021 (1)) zones
- 13 SK residents tested positive out-of-province were added to the case counts in the Saskatoon (from December 30, 2021 (2), January 1 (3), January 4 (2), January 5 (2)), Regina (from January 5 (1)), South West (from January 4 (1)), and South Central (from January 5 (1)) zones, and pending location (from January 2 (1)).
- 89,821 cases are confirmed
- 22,099 cases are from the Saskatoon area
- 20,625 cases are from the North area (9,123 North West, 8,532 North Central, 2,970 North East)
- 18,117 cases are from the Regina area
- 11,493 cases are from the South area (2,382 South West, 3,410 South Central, 5,701 South East)
- 9,521 cases are from the Far North area (4,479 Far North West, 543 Far North Central, 4,499 Far North East)
- 6,975 cases are from the Central area (1,621 Central West, 5,354 Central East)
- 991 cases have pending residence information
- 6,254 cases are considered active and 82,606 cases are considered recovered.
- Almost one-half (46.1%) of new cases are in the age category of 20 to 39.
- As of January 7th a total of 105 individuals are hospitalized, including 94 inpatient hospitalizations and 11 ICU hospitalizations. Of the 105 patients, 54 (51.4%) were not fully vaccinated.
- The SHA dashboard includes 105 hospitalizations: of those, 49 in-patient hospitalizations are a COVID-19-related illness, 35 are incidental, asymptomatic infections and 10 have not yet been determined. Eleven (11) residents are in ICUs and one (1) of those is an incidental, asymptomatic infection.
- No (0) new death reported today. 961 Saskatchewan residents with COVID-19 have died, with a case fatality rate of 1.1%.
- 1,348,973 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of January 5, 2022, when other provincial and national numbers are available from PHAC, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 1,136,568 tests performed per million. The national rate was 1,403,367 tests performed per million.
- The 7-day average of new COVID-19 case numbers was 659 (54.7 new cases per 100,000).
- Since January 1, the New Cases by Vaccination Status table has shown a significant number of new cases as unvaccinated. This data is not accurate. This table is no longer featured on the dashboard until a review of the information is complete and the data rectified.
