REGINA — As Saskatchewan transitions to Living with COVID, the second weekly COVID-19 integrated epidemiological report has been released. The report this week looks at data from Sunday, Feb. 6 to Saturday, Feb. 12. The hospitalization data is a comparison from Wednesday, Feb. 9 to noon Feb. 16.
Here are five things from this week's report you should know:
Almost twice the deaths
Based on data recorded in Panorama, the public health database, there were 42 newly reported COVID-19 deaths, almost twice the number reported in the previous week (22).
New cases less than half of previous report
A total of 2,522 new cases were confirmed reflecting about 2.1 laboratory-confirmed cases per 1,000 population. The number of new laboratory-confirmed cases was less than one-half of the number of new cases in the previous week. A total of 12,079 laboratory tests were performed in Saskatchewan reflecting 10.0 tests performed per 1,000 population. The number of tests was just over two-thirds of the number of tests in the previous week. About one-fifth of laboratory tests were positive (weekly test positivity of 20.2 per cent). Test positivity was about two-thirds of the test positivity value in the previous week.
Almost all Omicron
There were 242 new lineage results reported this week. Of the 242 variants of concern (VOCs) identified by whole genome sequencing, 99.6 per cent were Omicron.
More COVID hospitalizations
As of Feb. 16, a total of 410 people had been hospitalized with COVID-19, 26 more than the week before. Total ICU admissions went from 26 to 33. However, confirmed new COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care and care home settings, at 22, were about two-thirds of the 34 outbreaks that were reported the previous week.
Half of adults boosted
As of February 12, Among the population 18 years and older, 50.4 per cent had received at least one booster vaccination. Of the population five years and older, 85.4 per cent received at least one dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine and 79.9 per cent completed a series.
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The remaining public health orders requiring masking in indoor public spaces and mandatory five-day isolation for individuals with positive COVID-19 tests will remain in effect until the end of day, Feb. 27. All public health orders will be removed as of Feb. 28.
Information about Saskatchewan Health Authority vaccine clinics and participating pharmacies is available at Saskatchewan.ca/COVID-19.
The full, comprehensive profile of trends and includes laboratory-confirmed cases, deaths, tests, vaccination information provincially and by zones, as well as hospital and ICU census trends and distribution of rapid antigen tests can be found at Saskatchewan.ca/COVID-19-cases.
