Released on June 2, 2022
Your Booster Dose Matters
Vaccination remains your best protection against severe outcomes of COVID-19 infection. From December 20, 2021 to May 21, 2022, unvaccinated individuals had a three times higher risk of hospitalization and six times higher risk of ICU admission and death compared to three-dose recipients.
Get vaccinated, including your booster doses. The third dose is vital to protecting against serious illness and hospitalization and all residents 12 years and older are now eligible for a third dose four months after completing their primary series.
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, May 22 to Saturday, May 28, 2022. The hospitalization data is a comparison from May 26 to June 1, 2022.
The integrated epi report can be found online at saskatchewan.ca/COVID19-cases.
Summary for the week of May 22-28, 2022
- 5,667 laboratory tests were performed in Saskatchewan reflecting 4.7 tests performed per 1,000 population. The number of tests was lower than the number of tests in the previous week (6,402).
- One in nineteen laboratory tests were positive (weekly test positivity of 5.3 per cent), which is a decrease from the previous week (5.5 per cent).
- 364 new cases were confirmed reflecting 0.3 laboratory-confirmed cases per 1,000 population, lower than the number of new cases in the previous week (376).
- The majority of laboratory-confirmed cases this week were 50 years and older (52.5 per cent).
- There were 437 new lineage results reported this week. Of the 437 variants of concern identified by whole genome sequencing, 100 per cent were Omicron.
- The Omicron BA.2 sublineage accounted for 76.9 per cent of the variants of concern reported this week, which was lower compared to the previous week. BA.2 sublineage is more transmissible compared to pre-variant 2020 COVID-19 and BA.1 sub-lineages but there is no current evidence of increased severity.
- There were nine (9) newly-reported COVID-19 deaths, lower compared to the previous week (12).
- There were 29.6 COVID-like illness patients per 1,000 emergency department visits which was higher than last week (17 per 1,000)
- Three (3) confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care and care home settings were reported this week.
- As of May 28, 2022, of the population five years and older, 85.9 per cent received at least one dose of a two dose COVID-19 vaccine and 81 per cent completed a series.
- Among the population 18 years and older, 52.5 per cent had received at least one booster vaccination.
- As of May 29, 2022, there have been 497 Paxlovid prescriptions and 43 Remdesivir treatments.
- More than 21 million rapid antigen test kits have been distributed in the province. They are easily accessible at more than 600 locations.
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For more information, contact:
Health
Regina
Phone: 306-787-4083
Email: media@health.gov.sk.ca