Key Takeaways:
- Saskatchewan reported 22 COVID-19 deaths for the week of April 10-16, up two from the prior week.
- As of April 20, 417 people had been admitted to hospitals due to COVID-19, up 14 from the previous week. The number 160 refers to a COVID-19-related illness.
- As of April 16, 85.8% of children aged five and above had received at least one immunisation dosage, with 80.8 percent receiving two.
For the week of April 10-16, Saskatchewan reported 22 COVID-19 deaths, up to two from the previous release.
Eight of the 22 deaths happened between March 24 and April 9 but were just disclosed this week. More than 86 percent of the 22 deaths occurred in people aged 70 and over.
Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, told CTV News that hospitalizations and outbreaks in long-term care homes are his top concerns.
According to Dr. Shahab, booster injections have a poor uptake compared to other provinces and countries, which is one of the reasons why hospital pressures remain high.
Also read: People are being urged to donate blood as though their life depended on it
“We’re noticing a bit of a rebound in April because more than 60% of our isolates as of [Thursday] were Omicron B.A.2, which is identical to B.A.1 but regrettably more transmissible.” It isn’t getting any worse; therefore, I believe it is continuing to put a lot of strain on our acute-care systems,” Shahab said.
“The fundamental issue is that our booster uptake is lower. Anyone above the age of 12 should consider having a booster four months following their second dosage, and this is especially critical for those who wind up in the hospital.”
According to him, most persons in hospitals with COVID-19 are unvaccinated in all age categories.
As of April 20, 417 persons have been admitted to hospitals due to COVID-19, an increase of 14 over the previous week. 160 are for a COVID-19-related sickness, 225 are for a COVID-19 infection that happened by chance, and 32 are still being investigated. Twenty-five people are in intensive care units.
Despite the reality that more than half of COVID-19 patients in hospitals are unintentional, Dr. Shahab believes it puts pressure on healthcare professionals.
He added that staffing concerns are a problem because they are getting sick themselves, and extra resources are needed, even if patients are in the hospital for other reasons.
According to Shahab, we’ve been at a standstill for several weeks, but estimating when it will end is difficult.
“I believe we should all stop making predictions right now,” he remarked. “We should have been coming down from our surge if we hadn’t spotted B.A.2.”
B.A.2 incidences are declining in the United Kingdom, according to Shahab, but that country has a considerably greater booster uptake in adults than Saskatchewan.
890 lab-confirmed cases were also recorded, down from 1,050 in the previous week, resulting in 0.7 cases per 1,000 people, down to 0.9 the week before.
539 fresh variant lineage results were reported since the last update, up from 375 the previous time. Omicron accounted for 100% of the 539 variations of concern, with the BA.2 sublineage accounting for 61.4 percent.
In long-term care facilities and care home settings, there were 18 confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks.
As of April 16, 85.8% of people aged five and up had received at least one vaccination dose, with 80.8 percent having received two doses.
51.7 percent of people aged 18 and above have had at least one booster shot.
Source: CTV News
