In the October 19 COVID-19 update from The Saskatchewan Health Authority they are reporting a total of 271 new confirmed cases of the virus in the province.

Of those 271 new cases there are 9 in the Far North West zone, 11 in the Far North East zone, 30 in the North West zone, 32 in the North Central zone, 3 in the North East zone, 82 in the Saskatoon zone, 1 in the Central West zone, 22 in the Central East zone, 35 in the Regina zone, 2 in the South Central zone, and 10 in the South East zone.

There are 6 new confirmed cases in the South West zone - 2 in the South West subzone 1, and 4 in the South West subzone 2.

There are 28 new cases with pending residence information.

Twelve cases with pending residence information have been assigned as follows - 4 to the North West zone, 2 to the North Central zone, 1 to the Saskatoon zone, 2 to the Central East zone, 2 to the Regina zone, and 1 to the South East zone.

Four cases were removed (3 repeats and 1 unknown reason) as follows - 2 from the North West zone, 1 from the Saskatoon zone, and 1 with pending residence information.

Over a quarter (28.4%) of new cases are in the 20 to 39 age category.

More than one-quarter (27.0%) of new cases eligible for vaccination (12 years of age and older) were fully vaccinated.

That brings the provincial total number of cases to 74,940, of which 3,434 are considered active.

There are 94 active cases in the South West zone -  34 in South West subzone 1, and 60 in South West subzone 2.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases was 319 (26.5 new cases per 100,000 population).

There were 495 recoveries reported, 25 of those in the South West zone, bringing the provincial total number of recoveries to 70,713.

There were 8 new deaths reported, 2 of those in the South West zone, bringing the provincial total number of deaths to 793.

There are 335 people in the hospital - 252 receiving inpatient care, and 83 in intensive care.

Of the 335 patients, 251 (74.9%) were not fully vaccinated.

In addition, 1 ICU patient has been transferred to Ontario.

To date, there have been 1,197,080 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan.

And yesterday there were 2,092 COVID-19 tests processed in the province.

Of the 13,199 variants of concern cases identified by whole genome sequencing in the province, 7,123 are Alpha (B.1.1.7), 10 are Beta (B.1.351), 484 are Gamma (P.1), and 5,582 are Delta (B.1.617.2).

There were 1,188 COVID-19 vaccines administered yesterday, 88 of those in the South West zone.

That brings the provincial total number of vaccinations given to 1,627,570.

There are 768.915 people in the province who are fully vaccinated.

Starting October 25, the COVID-19 vaccination booster program will be expanded. COVID-19 boosters will be administered at least six months after the second dose was received for the following groups: Individuals aged 65 years and older, individuals living in the Far North and those living on First Nation communities aged 50 years and older, health care workers, and individuals born in 2009 or earlier with underlying health conditions that are clinically extremely vulnerable.