COVID-19-related deaths were up, new cases and hospitalizations were down, but the numbers of infections being treated in an I-C-U was up from last week, according to the latest novel coronavirus report from the Ministry of Health.

There were 10 deaths reported between May 29-June 4 in Saskatchewan, one more than the previous week. Two provincial residents in their 60s passed on due to COVID-19 with another eight fatalities being people who were 80 years old and above. Meanwhile, as of Wednesday, 187 people with COVID-19 were in a provincial hospital, the lowest that number has been since January 17 when there were 167 Saskatchewan residents in hospital with the virus. However, there were 10 infections in I-C-U, up from six the week before. In addition, the latest update showed 285 new cases, down from 364 the week before. Of those 285 new cases, 97-point-five per cent were the BA-2 variant. Plus, eight new outbreaks were reported in long term care homes in the province, compared to three the previous week. The majority of the new outbreaks were in the north west region.

Summary for the week of May 29 – June 4, 2022

• 5,888 laboratory tests were performed in Saskatchewan reflecting 4.9 tests performed per 1,000 population. The number of tests was higher than the number of tests in the previous week (5,667).
• The weekly test positivity of 4.6 per cent, is a decrease from the previous week (5.3 per cent).
• 285 new cases were confirmed reflecting 24 laboratory-confirmed cases per 100,000 population, lower than the number of new cases in the previous week (364).
• The majority of laboratory-confirmed cases this week were 50 years and older (56.1 per cent).
• There were 122 new lineage results reported this week. Of the 122 variants of concern identified by whole genome sequencing, 100 per cent were Omicron.
• The Omicron BA.2 sublineage accounted for 97.5 per cent of the variants of concern reported this week.  BA.2 sublineage is more transmissible compared to pre-variant 2020 COVID-19 and BA.1 sub-lineages but there is no current evidence of increased severity.
• There were 10 newly-reported COVID-19 deaths, higher compared to the previous week (9).
• There were 22 COVID-like illness patients per 1,000 emergency department visits which was a decrease from last week (30 per 1,000).
• Eight (8) confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care and care home settings were reported this week.
• As of June 4, 2022, of the population five years and older, 85.9 per cent received at least one dose of a two dose COVID-19 vaccine and 81 per cent completed a series.
• Among the population 18 years and older, 52.6 per cent had received at least one booster vaccination.
• As of June 5, 2022, there have been 521 Paxlovid prescriptions.
• As of June 8, 2022, there have been a total of 39 people who have received Remdesivir treatment and a total of 112 infusions completed.
• More than 21 million rapid antigen test kits have been distributed in the province. They are easily accessible at more than 600 locations.