In the March 9 COVID-19 update from The Saskatchewan Health Authority they are reporting a total of 113 new cases of the virus in the province.

Of those 113 new cases there are 4 in the Far North West zone, 9 in the Far North East zone, 9 in the North West zone, 4 in the North Central zone, 1 in the North East zone, 37 in the Saskatoon zone, 4 in the Central East zone,  and 30 in the Regina zone.

There are 3 new cases reported in the South West zone, 1 in the South Central zone, and 3 in the South East zone.

There are 8 cases with pending residence information.

Three cases with pending residence information were assigned as follows - 1 to the Far North West zone, 1 to the North Central zone, and 1 to the Regina zone.

One case was found to be an out of province resident and was removed from t he counts.

That brings the provincial total number of COVID-19 cases to 29,918, of which 1,414 are considered active. This is the lowest number of active cases since November 11.

There are currently 10 active cases in the South West zone, all 10 are in the South West subzone 1.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 141 (11.5 new cases per 100,000 population).

One Saskatchewan resident who tested positive for COVID-19 had died. This death was reported in the 50-59 age group from the North West zone.

That brings the provincial total number of deaths related to COVID-19 to 400.

There have been 160 recoveries reported, bringing that provincial total to 28,104.

There are 139 people in hospital. One hundred and fourteen people are receiving inpatient care - 2 in the Far North West zone, 1 in the Far North East zone, 12 in the North West zone, 8 in the North Central zone, 2 in the North East zone, 44 in the Saskatoon zone, 3 in the Central East zone, 39 in the Regina zone, and 3 in the South East zone.

There are 25 people in intensive care - 2 in the North Central zone, 11 in the Saskatoon zone, 2 in the central East zone and 10 in the Regina zone.

To date, there has been 597,743 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan.

And yesterday, there were 1,874 COVID-19 tests processed.

The Roy Romanow Provincial Lab has completed an initial survey of positive COVID-19 cases of individuals that initially tested positive during the period of January 26 to February 27.

Of 190 cases sequenced for the variants, 35 were confirmed to be variants, including 28 in the Regina zone.

Sequencing of positive cases for the initial survey began on March 1 when RRPL began  in-province whole genome sequencing and were reported to the Ministry of Health on March 8.

The confirmation of 44 variant of concern cases present over the span of two months is an indication that variants of concern, particularly B.1.1.7 initially detected in the UK, are present in Saskatchewan and community transmission has been occurring over the last two months, Saskatchewan's COVID-19 data, including active cases, hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths, have continued to decline. Saskatchewan will continue to monitor for variants through targeted and randomized surveys of positive COVID-19 cases. 

The detailed breakdown of the variants confirmed during the RRPL's initial two-month variant survey of positive COVID -19 cases is as follows- B1.1.7UK - 36 in the Regina zone, 1 in the North West zone, and 1 in the Saskatoon zone.

The B1.351SA - 5 in the North Central zone and 1 in the South Central zone.

An additional 736 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered in the province to 93,512.

The Pfizer vaccine shipment for the week of March 8 is now arriving in Saskatchewan. Shipments for the Saskatoon and Regina areas are expected to be delivered today, March 9. Shipments for the North Battleford, Yorkton, and Prince Albert areas are expected March 10.