COVID-19 in Sask: 13 new fatalities, marking province's deadliest day yet

Saskatchewan saw its deadliest day of the pandemic on Thursday, with 13 deaths from COVID-19reported.

That exceeds arecord that was set on Dec. 12, when the province reported 11 deaths from the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

The pandemic has now claimed 239 lives in Saskatchewan, the province said in its Thursday update.

Thursday's reported deaths include aperson intheir 60s in the Saskatoon zone, and three people in their 70s one in each of thefar north central, north central and Saskatoon zones.

The deaths also included nine people in their80s: six in the Saskatoon area, one in the far northeast zone, one in the north central zone, and one in the southeast zone.

The deaths come as the province recorded 227 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total provincial caseload to 21,338.

The new cases were in these zones:

• Far northwest: 14.
• Far north central: six.
• Far northeast: seven.
• Northwest: 18.
• North central: 21.
• Northeast: 11.
• Saskatoon: 62.
• Central west: four.
• Central east: 12.
• Regina: 50.
• Southwest: two.
• South central: four.
• Southeast: 12.

The location for four other cases is pending.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 286, or 23.6 new cases per 100,000 people.

A total of 18,000 people have now recovered from the virus, the province says, with 816 new recoveries reported Thursday. Of the province's total cases, 3,099 are considered active, which is a decrease from 3,702 active cases reported on Wednesday.

There are 197 people with COVID-19 in hospital, 31 of whom are in intensive care.

The provinceprocessed 2,764 COVID-19 tests on Wednesday.

3 deaths removed from total

On Wednesday, the province announcedthree deaths wereremoved from Saskatchewan's overall total.

The deaths occurred this month and last month, and were initially listed as caused by COVID-19, the province said.

"Further investigation determined that while the residents did have a COVID-19 diagnosis, it was not the cause of death," the Ministry of Health said.

The ministry said when a death occurs following a COVID-19 diagnosis, a physician is required to report that death.

According to the Ministry of Health,"COVID-19 is recorded as the cause of death when the disease caused, or is assumed to have caused, or contributed, to someone's death."

The total of 239 COVID-19 deaths as of Thursday reflects Wednesday's change.

Vaccine update

The province administered 2,548 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in Saskatchewan to 29,781.

The doses were administered in the following areas:

• Regina: 800.
• Saskatoon: 400.
• North central: 185.
• Northwest: 418.
• Far northeast: 30.
• Far north central: 10.
• Central east: 175.
• South east: 530.

The province received another 2,925 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine on Tuesday, which are currently being distributed to priority populations in the Battleford area, Lloydminster, Regina and Fort Qu'Appelle, says the government.