Twenty new COVID-19-related deaths were reported in Saskatchewan – down 13 from the previous weekly provincial update.
Of these newly reported deaths, 16 occurred last week. The other four deaths occurred in previous weeks from Feb. 21 to March 19, but were only reported this week.
COVID-19-related hospitalizations rose this week, with 324 total reported as of March 30. There were also 21 people in ICU due to COVID-19. Among those in hospital, 120 had a COVID-19-related illness, 184 were incidental infections and 20 were under investigation.
There were 10 confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks reported in long-term care and care home settings this week.
There were 400 new variant lineage results reported this week. Of those 400 variants of concern identified by whole genome sequencing, all were Omicron. Of those 400, 15.5 per cent of Omicron variants of concern were of sublineage BA.2 which was a smaller percentage than last week.
There were 7,449 lab tests performed in Saskatchewan this week, with 1,196 positive results, leading to a test positivity of 12.3 per cent – slightly higher than last week which was 11.7 per cent.
The province said as of March 26, 85.7 per cent of the population five years and older received at least one dose of a two-dose vaccine and 80.6 per cent completed two or three.
As well, 51.3 per cent among the population 18 years and older had gotten at least one booster shot.