Saskatchewan has its highest number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in over three months since the fourth wave of the pandemic.
Wednesday’s dashboard update from the provincial government website showed an increase of 24 patients in hospital with a positive case of the novel coronavirus for a total of 315 in Saskatchewan. That’s the highest figure since October 21 of last year when there were 322 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The number of infections in I-C-Us stayed the same Wednesday as Tuesday at 33. Otherwise, the latest update showed 1,194 new cases, 1,444 recoveries plus six virus-related deaths, leaving 12,448 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, a third straight day in which the active case number declined.
Highlights
- As of January 26th , there are 1,194 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 112,693 reported cases
- The new cases are located in the Far North West (22), Far North Central (2), Far North East (13), North West (62), North Central (43), North East (29), Saskatoon (342), Central West (23), Central East (99), Regina (227), South West (28), South Central (37), and South East (129) zones and 138 new cases have pending residence information
- Of the 1,194 new cases reported today, 203 were unvaccinated or fewer than 21 days after their first dose, 50 had received their first dose or were less than 21 days from their second dose, 616 were fully vaccinated (more than 14 days since their second dose) and 325 were fully vaccinated and more than 14 days from receiving their booster dose.
- 68 cases with pending residence information were assigned to the Far North East (1), North West (27), North Central (1), North East (3), Saskatoon (12), Central East (4), Regina (10), South West (6), South Central (2), and South East (2) zones.
- 52 SK residents tested out-of-province were added to the North West (1), North Central (2), Saskatoon (18), Central West (1), Central East (5), Regina (21), South Central (2), and South East (2) zones.
- 112,693 cases are confirmed
- 29,062 cases are from the Saskatoon area
- 23,975 cases are from the North area (10,485 North West, 9,956 North Central, 3,534 North East)
- 23,824 cases are from the Regina area
- 14,886 cases are from the South area (3,087 South West, 4,407 South Central, 7,392 South East)
- 10,276 cases are from the Far North area (4,856 Far North West, 584 Far North Central, 4,836 Far North East)
- 8,985 cases are from the Central area (2,055 Central West, 6,930 Central East)
- 1,685 cases have pending residence information
- 12,448 cases are considered active and 99,262 cases are considered recovered
- One-third (33.8%) of new cases are in the age category of 20 to 39
- As of January 26th, a total of 315 individuals are hospitalized, including 282 inpatient hospitalizations and 33 ICU hospitalizations. Of the 315 patients, 109 (34.6%) were not fully vaccinated.
- The SHA dashboard includes 315 hospitalizations: 282 residents are inpatient: of those, 121 inpatient hospitalizations are a COVID-19-related illness, 127 are incidental COVID-19 infections, and 34 have not yet been determined. 30 residents are in ICUs: of those, 25 are for COVID-19-related illnesses, four (4) are for incidental COVID-19 infections, and one (1) is undetermined. Three (3) residents are in PICU/NICU: all three are for COVID-19-related illnesses.
- Six (6) new deaths reported today. A total of 983 Saskatchewan residents with COVID-19 have died, with a case fatality rate of 0.9%.
- 1,421,532 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of January 24, 2022, when other provincial and national numbers are available from PHAC, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 1,195,913 tests performed per million. The national rate was 1,464,003 tests performed per million.
- The 7-day average of new COVID-19 case numbers was 1,248 (103.6 new cases per 100,000).
Cases infected with a variant of concern (VoC), as of January 26, 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 | 787 | 212 | 23 | 546 | 6 | 8 | |
| Far North Central | 4 | 88 | 4 | 84 | ||||
| Far North East | 100 | 695 | 56 | 12 | 605 | 22 | 21 | |
| North West | 883 | 1,604 | 351 | 251 | 928 | 74 | 62 | |
| North Central | 668 | 1,517 | 345 | 9 | 26 | 1,066 | 71 | 44 |
| North East | 87 | 476 | 66 | 2 | 383 | 25 | 32 | |
| Saskatoon | 2,196 | 4,007 | 1,137 | 1 | 127 | 2,056 | 686 | 460 |
| Central West | 149 | 327 | 107 | 2 | 178 | 40 | 34 | |
| Central East | 655 | 1,393 | 405 | 5 | 854 | 129 | 124 | |
| Regina | 4,835 | 5,348 | 2,837 | 5 | 1,614 | 892 | 920 | |
| South West | 416 | 661 | 252 | 26 | 319 | 64 | 66 | |
| South Central | 894 | 1,173 | 635 | 2 | 382 | 154 | 173 | |
| South East | 1,158 | 1,811 | 693 | 1 | 942 | 175 | 195 | |
| Pending | 77 | 355 | 23 | 2 | 178 | 152 | 106 | |
| Totals | 12,461 | 20,242 | 7,123 | 10 | 484 | 10,135 | 2,490 | 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.
* As of September 13, 2021, the province of Saskatchewan ceased testing for variant type on all new cases using SNP in order to support overall COVID-19 testing. Whole genome sequencing will continue to identify any emerging variants. Note that, as public health investigations proceed, variant of concern case locations may change due as residence locations are confirmed.
COVID-19 Deaths by Age Group, as of January 26, 2022
| Age Group | 19 and under | 20 to 39 | 40 to 59 | 60 to 79 | 80+ | Total |
| COVID-19 Deaths | 4 | 40 | 109 | 410 | 420 | 983 |
