Saskatchewan has posted a record number of COVID-19-related hospitalizations, according to Monday’s dashboard update on the provincial government website.
There are 363 residents in hospital, including 42 infections being treated in an I-C-U. The total hospitalization number is up 14 from Sunday and surpasses the previous Saskatchewan high for hospitalizations of 356 back on October 6th of last year. Saskatoon has 158 of the hospitalized novel coronavirus patients, including 21 in an I-C-U. Plus, there were two new virus-related deaths. Otherwise, the province recorded their lowest number of new cases of COVID-19 Monday since January 6. However, the 736 new cases came from only 2,214 tests performed on Sunday, the lowest that number has been since January 4. Add in 1,258 recoveries and the number of active cases in Saskatchewan is down to 12,208.
Highlights
- As of January 31st , there are 736 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 118,606 reported cases.
- The new cases are located in the Far North West (3), Far North Central (3), Far North East (7), North West (32), North Central (56), North East (16), Saskatoon (233), Central West (16), Central East (77), Regina (146), South West (17), South Central (38) and South East (25) zones and 67 new cases have pending residence information.
- Of the 736 new cases reported today, 111 were unvaccinated or fewer than 21 days after their first dose, 26 had received their first dose or were less than 21 days from their second dose, 352 were fully vaccinated or more than 14 days since their second dose and 247 were fully vaccinated and more than 14 days from receiving their booster dose.
- 73 cases with pending residence information were assigned to the Far North West (1), Far North East (2), North West (12), North Central (34), North East (2), Saskatoon (9), Central West (1), Central East (1), Regina (5), South West (3), South Central (1), and South East (2) zones. Details of reassignments are included in a one time table included at the end of the report.
- 12 SK residents tested out-of-province were added to the Far North West (from January 28 (2)), North West (from January 28 (1)), Saskatoon (from January 27 (2), January 28 (3), January 29 (1)), Regina (from January 28 (2)), South West (from January 28 (1)) zones.
- 118,606 cases are confirmed
- 30,805 cases are from the Saskatoon area
- 25,070 cases are from the Regina area
- 25,019 cases are from the North area (10,829 North West, 10,530 North Central, 3,660 North East)
- 15,844 cases are from the South area (3,262 South West, 4,772 South Central, 7,810 South East)
- 10,447 cases are from the Far North area (4,902 Far North West, 597 Far North Central, 4,948 Far North East)
- 9,612 cases are from the Central area (2,225 Central West, 7,387 Central East)
- 1,809 cases have pending residence information
- 12,208 cases are considered active and 105,406 cases are considered recovered.
- Over one-third (34.8%) of new cases are in the age category of 20 to 39.
- As of January 31st a total of 363 individuals are hospitalized; including 321 inpatient hospitalizations, and 42 ICU hospitalizations. Of the 363 patients, 112 (30.9%) were not fully vaccinated.
- The SHA dashboard includes 363 hospitalizations:
- 321 residents are inpatient: of those, 118 inpatient hospitalizations are a COVID-19-related illness, 165 are incidental COVID-19 infections, and 38 have not yet been determined.
- 41 residents are in ICUs: of those, 33 are for COVID-19-related illnesses, and eight (8) are for incidental COVID-19 infections. One (1) resident is in PICU/NICU for COVID-19-related illness.
- Two (2) new deaths reported today. A total of 992 Saskatchewan residents with COVID-19 have died with a case fatality rate of 0.8%.
- 1,438,372 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of January 27, 2022, when other provincial and national numbers are available from PHAC, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 1,204,072 tests performed. The national rate was 1,470,417 tests performed per million.
- The 7-day average of new COVID-19 case numbers was 1,162 (96.4 new cases per 100,000).
Cases infected with a variant of concern (VoC), as of January 31, 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 | 789 | 212 | 23 | 546 | 8 | 8 | |
| Far North Central | 4 | 88 | 4 | 84 | ||||
| Far North East | 100 | 699 | 56 | 12 | 605 | 26 | 21 | |
| North West | 883 | 1,612 | 351 | 251 | 928 | 82 | 62 | |
| North Central | 668 | 1,532 | 345 | 9 | 26 | 1,066 | 86 | 44 |
| North East | 87 | 478 | 66 | 2 | 383 | 27 | 32 | |
| Saskatoon | 2,196 | 4,056 | 1,137 | 1 | 127 | 2,056 | 735 | 460 |
| Central West | 149 | 330 | 107 | 2 | 178 | 43 | 34 | |
| Central East | 655 | 1,400 | 405 | 5 | 854 | 136 | 124 | |
| Regina | 4,835 | 5,402 | 2,837 | 5 | 1,616 | 944 | 920 | |
| South West | 416 | 670 | 252 | 26 | 321 | 71 | 66 | |
| South Central | 894 | 1,182 | 635 | 2 | 382 | 163 | 173 | |
| South East | 1,158 | 1,816 | 693 | 1 | 943 | 179 | 195 | |
| Pending | 77 | 358 | 23 | 2 | 178 | 155 | 106 | |
| Totals | 12,461 | 20,412 | 7,123 | 10 | 484 | 10,140 | 2,655 | 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 31, 2022
| Age Group | 19 and under | 20 to 39 | 40 to 59 | 60 to 79 | 80+ | Total |
| COVID-19 Deaths | 5 | 40 | 109 | 413 | 425 | 992 |
