Saskatchewan influenza numbers continue to climb and the province has also reported the first flu-related death of the 2022-23 respiratory season.

The bi-weekly report from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health says the person died last week and was over the age of 50.

There were 635 influenza cases during the week ending last Saturday compared to only 68 for the final week of October. Hospital admissions were 102 last week, with eight people in ICU. The vast majority of residents have not received their flu shots. The number was 19 per cent as of last Saturday—up four per cent from the previous week.

As for COVID, the Ministry of Health reports 25 COVID-related deaths over the past two weeks. Hospitalizations are down a bit to 140 in the seven-day period ending last Sunday. Twenty per cent of people over the age of five have received their latest COVID booster dose in the last six months.

This is the summary contained in the biweekly Community Respiratory Illness Surveillance Program (CRISPR) report.