In the October 4 COVID-19 update from The Saskatchewan Health Authority they are reporting a total of 445 new confirmed cases of the virus in the province.

Of those 445 new cases there are 14 in the Far North West zone, 1 in the Far North Central zone, 18 in the Far North East zone, 39 in the North West zone, 35 in the North Central zone, 16 in the North East zone, 116 in the Saskatoon zone, 6 in the Central West zone, 29 in the Central East zone, 90 in the Regina zone, 7 in the South Central zone, and 33 in the South East zone.

There are 26 new confirmed cases in the South West zone - 15 in the South West subzone 1 (Shaunavon and area), and 11 in the South West subzone 2(Swift Current and area).

There are 15 new cases with pending residence information.

Twenty-four cases with pending residence information have been reassigned as follows - 1 to the Far North East zone, 8 to the North West zone, 4 to the North Central zone, 1 to the Saskatoon zone, 9 to the Regina zone, and 1 to the South East zone.

Nearly one-third (32.6%) of new cases are in the 20-39 age category.

More than one in four (25.6%) of new cases eligible for vaccination (12 years and older) were fully vaccinated.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases is 456 (37.9 new cases per 100,000 population).

That brings the provincial total number of cases to 69,089, of which 4,635 are considered active.

There are 263 active cases in the South West zone - 119 in South West subzone 1, and 144 in South West subzone 2.

There have been 5 new deaths reported, none in the South West zone, bringing the provincial total number of deaths to 716.

There were 523 recoveries reported - 28 in the South West zone - bringing that provincial total to 63,738.

There are 325 people in the hospital - 250 receiving inpatient care, and 75 in intensive care.

Of the 325 patients eligible for vaccination, 250 (76.8%) were not fully vaccinated.

Outbreaks in the South West zone have been reported in Ecole Centennial School (Grade 6 English Classroom) in Swift Current, and in the Hazlet School,  as well as at Foyer St. Joseph Long Term Care in Ponteix.

To date, there has been a total of 1,147,35 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan.

And yesterday, there were 3,254 COVID-19 tests processed in the province.

Of the 11,949 variants of concern cases identified by whole genome sequencing in Saskatchewan, 7,123 are Alpha (B.1.1.7), 10 are Beta (B.1.351), 484 are Gamma (P.1), and 4,332 are Delta (B.1.617.2).

There were 2,500 COVID-19 vaccines administered yesterday in the province, 54 of them given in the South West zone.

That brings the provincial total number of vaccinations to 1,575,130.

There are now 743,390 residents in the province who are fully vaccinated.