COVID-19 Weekly EPI Report

Released on April 14, 2022

Get Third, Fourth COVID Vaccination Doses for Optimal Protection

Provincial public health officials are finalizing the most recent breakthrough data; however, preliminary results indicate that unvaccinated residents are about five times more likely to be hospitalized versus those with two doses and a booster. Unvaccinated residents are about 10 times more likely to be admitted to ICU than residents with two doses and a booster.

The best protection against severe COVID-19 outcomes continues to be vaccination.  Complete your primary, two-dose series and receive your booster dose(s) when eligible. 

All residents age five years and older can been vaccinated. The following can book their appointments today through the Saskatchewan Health Authority online booking tool or through participating pharmacies:

• If you are 5 to 11 years of age, you are eligible for two doses of a two vaccine series. 
• If you are 12 to 69 years of age, you are eligible for two doses of a two vaccine series, plus your third dose four months following your second dose. 
• If you are 70 years or older, you are eligible for two doses of a two vaccine series plus your third dose, four months following your second dose and fourth dose four months following your third dose. 
• If you have any of a number of health conditions, the intervals between your doses are shorter. 

Note that residents 70 years and older are now able to book their fourth dose appointments at Saskatchewan Health Authority clinics using the online booking system. 

If you are 50 years or older and live in a First Nations community or the Northern Service Administration District, you are eligible for two doses of a two vaccine series, plus your third dose four months following your second dose and fourth dose four months following your third dose. Call 1-833-SASKVAX (727-5829) to book your booster dose appointments.

Residents of long term care and personal care homeswill be offered their third and fourth doses directly from the SHA; appointments are not required for these residents. 

If you test positive on a PCR or rapid antigen test, you may be able to receive Paxlovid treatment to reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes.  Eligibility criteria includes being unvaccinated or undervaccinated, immunocompromised or having other medical conditions that put you at higher risk. Treatment must be started within the first five days of symptom onset. More on Paxlovid eligibility is available at Saskatchewan.ca/covid-19. 

Best Practices Prevent COVID-19 Transmission this Long Weekend

Whether you are able to travel safely this long weekend or intend to gather with friends and family close to home, remember to use best practices to prevent COVID-19 transmission.   

• Know before you go - take a rapid test ahead of any gathering, even if you are vaccinated.  Free rapid test kits are available throughout Saskatchewan.
• Don't host or attend a gathering if you feel unwell. Stay home with even the mildest cold or flu-like symptoms, regardless of your vaccination status.
• If you have not yet received both doses of a two-dose vaccination series and a booster dose, book your vaccination appointment today.
• Remember to layer all the best practices including increased ventilation, frequent handwashing, and electing to mask in public places as each, additional action reduces your risk of contracting and transmitting COVID-19. 

Weekly COVID-19 Epi Report 

Issued Thursdays, the Ministry of Health's COVID-19 integrated epidemiology (epi) report utilizes multiple data sources 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. The epi report this week looks at data from Sunday, April 3 to Saturday, April 9, 2022. The hospitalization data is a comparison from April 6 to 13, 2022.

The integrated epi report can be found online at saskatchewan.ca/COVID-19-cases.

Summary for the week of April 3 - 9, 2022

• 7,996 laboratory tests were performed in Saskatchewan, reflecting 6.6 tests performed per 1,000 population. The number of tests was higher than the number of tests in the previous week (7,689).
• More than one in eight laboratory tests were positive (weekly test positivity of 13 per cent), which is similar to the previous week (13.2 per cent). 
• 1,051 new cases were confirmed reflecting about 0.9 laboratory-confirmed cases per 1,000 population.
• The number of new laboratory-confirmed cases was slightly higher than the number of new cases in the previous week (1,032).
• There were 375 new lineage results reported this week. Of the 375 variants of concern identified by whole genome sequencing, 100 per cent were Omicron. 
• The Omicron BA.2 sublineage accounted for 41.3 per cent of the variants of concern reported this week, which was almost twice as high as the previous week.
• There were 20 newly-reported COVID-19 deaths, 16.6 per cent lower than in the previous week (24).
• There were 43.4 COVID-like illness patients per 1,000 emergency department visits which is higher than the average weekly rate in the previous six weeks (32.9 per week/1,000 visits).   
• 16 confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care and care home settings were reported this week. 
• As of April 9, 2022, of the population five years and older, 85.7 per cent received at least one dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine and 80.7 per cent completed a series.
• Among the population 18 years and older, 51.5 per cent had received at least one booster vaccination. 
• As of the week of April 11, there have been 211 Paxlovid prescriptions provided and 345 monoclonal antibody infusion treatments administered. Note that sotrovimab monoclonal antibody treatments were discontinued in Saskatchewan as of April 7, 2022.
• More than 19.2 million rapid antigen test kits have been distributed in the province. They are easily accessible at more than 600 locations.

-30-

For more information, contact:

Health
Regina
Phone: 306-787-4083
Email: media@health.gov.sk.ca