In the March 25 COVID-19 update from The Saskatchewan Health Authority they are reporting a total of 168 new cases of the virus in the province.

Of those 168 new cases there are 2 in the Far North West zone, 3 in the Far North East zone, 3 in the North West zone, 2 in the North Central zone, 1 in the North East zone, 25 in the Saskatoon zone, 3 in the Central West zone, 19 in the Central East zone, 70 in the Regina zone, 11 in the South Central zone, and 24 in the South East zone.

There are 5 new cases with pending residence information.

Eight cases with pending residence information have been assigned as follows - 1 to the Far North West zone, 2 to the North Central zone, 2 to the North West zone, 1 to the Regina zone, 1 to the South Central zone, and 1 to the South East zone.

Three duplicate cases have been removed from the Far North East zone (1), the North West zone (1), and the Saskatoon zone (1).

That brings the provincial total number of COVID-19 cases to 32,346, of which 1,623 are considered active.

There are currently 14 active cases in the South West zone.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 181 (14.7 new cases per 100,000 population).

There have been 105 recoveries reported, bringing that provincial total to 30,301.

Two Saskatchewan residents who tested positive for COVID-19 have died. The deaths were reported in the 40-49 age group from the North Central zone, and in the 70-79 age group from the Central East zone.

That brings the provincial total number of deaths to 422.

There are 154 people in hospital. One hundred and thirty-two people are receiving inpatient care - 1 in the Far North West zone, 1 in the Far North East zone, 5 in the North West zone, 5 in the North Central zone, 1 in the North East zone, 41 in the Saskatoon zone, 8 in the Central East zone, and 56 in the Regina zone.

There are currently 2 people receiving inpatient care in the South West zone, 3 in the South Central zone, and 9 in the South East zone.

There are 22 people in intensive care -  6 in the Saskatoon zone, 2 in the Central East zone, 2 in the South Central zone, and 12 in the Regina zone.

To date, there have been 643,629 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan.

And yesterday, there were 3,370 COVID-19 tests processed.

As of March 24, 1,064 variants of concern cases have been identified by screening in Saskatchewan - 1 in the Far North East zone, 1 in the North Central zone, 18 in the Saskatoon zone, 20 in the Central East zone, 895 in the Regina zone, 63 in the South Central zone, and 66 in the South East zone.

These have previously been reported as "presumptive positives" but all screening tests will be considered confirmed variants of concern cases for the purposes of public reporting and contact investigations.

There are 118 new lineage results reported today. Of the 478 variants of concern cases with lineage identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan,  470 are B1.1.1.7(UK), and 8 are B1.351 (SA).

The Regina zone accounts for 400 (or 84%) of the variants of concern cases with confirmed lineage reported in Saskatchewan.

The trends of COVID-19 cases in school aged children are being monitored.

The Weekly Monitoring Report, for the week of March 15-21, for children and youth aged  0-19 years has been released.

There are a total of 413 active cases in children and youth in the province. Two of those have location/residence information unavailable.

There are 7 active cases in the Far North West zone, 3 in the North Central zone, 24 in the Far North East zone, 20 in the North West zone, 17 in the North Central zone,  11 in the North East zone, 1 in the Central West zone, 25 in the Central East zone, 56 in the Saskatoon zone, 193 in the Regina zone, 6 in the South West zone, 15 in the South Central zone, and 23 in the South East zone.

An additional 4,247 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 155,754.

More than two-thirds of Saskatchewan residents age 80 and over and 30% of Saskatchewan residents in their 70's have now received their first dose.

The appointment booking system has expanded to include residents 62 years and older. These people are encouraged to book their COVID-19 vaccination and can do so online or by phone.