REGINA — The provincial health authority has released a new weekly COVID-19 epidemiological report, sharing data to inform residents of the virus’ status in Saskatchewan.
The report includes data on case numbers, deaths and testing statistics collected from March 6 to March 12, as well as data on hospitalizations from March 9-16.
Health officials continue to remind residents that positive case numbers only reflect laboratory testing, and do not include any results from positive at-home rapid antigen tests.
Here are five things you should know from this week’s report:
Cases decrease
A total of 832 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported between March 6 and March 12, less than the week previous. Of those, 350 variants were identified, 99.7 per cent of which were the Omicron strain.
Saskatchewan labs performed 6,826 tests during this report period, less than the week prior, with a test positivity of one in nine or 11.8 per cent.
Deaths increase over past week
An additional 28 COVID-related deaths occurred during the reporting period, a sharp increase from the 13 deaths in the previous week’s data but less than 44 deaths recorded during Feb. 20-26.
Hospitalization decreasing
Hospitalizations have decreased over last week, with 299 individuals currently in care — 18 patients are in ICU care.
ERs continue to see COVID-like symptoms
Emergency departments saw an average of 27.1 patients with COVID-like symptoms per 1,000, which is a lower average than the previous six weeks of data.
The HealthLine phone service from the Saskatchewan Health Authority received a total of 1,597 calls during the week ending in March 13, with 151 callers reporting respiratory symptoms similar to COVID-19.
Outbreaks reported
There were 10 confirmed outbreaks in care home settings during this week, with six in long term care homes, three in group homes and one in a personal care home.
