As of March 8, The Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory is reporting an additional 3 confirmed cases of the B1.1.7 UK Variant in the province.

There are 2 cases in the Regina zone, and 1 in the North West zone,  including the confirmation of the presumptive positive case reported February 23.

This brings the provincial total of confirmed variant of concern cases to nine - 8 B1.1.7 UK, and 1 B1.351 SA.

On order to monitor for variants of concern the RRPL will continue to focus whole genome sequencing testing on COVID positive results linked to international travel, declared outbreaks and cases of unexpected severe illness, as well as a random sampling of confirmed cases. The province will continue to send up to 120 samples per week of the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg to ensure a larger sample size.

All residents with a confirmed COVID-19 test are required to isolate to reduce the risk of transmission. If required, public health will issue a public service announcement to alert the general public to any risk due to any confirmed case of a variant of concern. The Government of Saskatchewan continues to plan for the impact of variants on COVID-19 including any required increase to public health measures and surge capacity planning.

The best protection against all COVID-19 variants remains the same as protection against COVID-19; stay home, physically distance, wash your hands frequently, wear a mask and get tested if you are experiencing even mild symptoms.