The Saskatchewan Health Authority announcing today that there will be a change to the Public Health Order.

Effective immediately, household bubbles are limited to immediate households only for all of Saskatchewan.

The new Public Health Order will also include limits of worship gathering sizes to allow no more than 30 people effective at 12:01 Friday April 16.

These Public Heath Order measures are in effect until April 26 and will be reviewed at that time.

Also, the eligible age for booking vaccination appointments online or by telephone is  being lowered from 55 to 52. This change comes into effect at 8 a.m. Wednesday April 14.

There are also changes being made to the vaccine delivery plan to include more vulnerable groups to priority vaccination including all pregnant women, young adults ages 16 and 17 who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable and everyone over the age of 40 in the Far North.

Pregnant women and vulnerable 16 and 17 year olds will receive an eligibility letter from their physician and will need to use the 1-833-SaskVax telephone number to book their appointment.

Regina vaccination drive thru has expanded eligibility to include all residents aged 49-54 years only. This clinic will be first come first serve, open 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily at Evraz Place.

In the April 13 COVID-19 update from the SHA they are reporting 288 new cases of the virus in the province.

Of those 288 new cases there are 4 in the Far North West zone, 31 in the North West zone, 5 in the North Central zone, 3 in the North East zone, 44 in the Saskatoon zone, 2 in the Central West zone, 22 in the Central East zone, and 117 in the Regina zone.

There are 18 new cases in the South West zone, 17 in the South Central zone, and 17 in the South East zone.

There are 8 new cases with pending residence information.

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

That brings the provincial total number of cases to 36,892, of which 2,555 are considered active.

There are 60 active cases in the South West zone - 30 in the South West subzone 1, and 30 in the South West subzone 2.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 271 (22.1 new cases per 100,000 population).

There is one outbreak listed in Swift Current at the Nimegeers Carlson Law Firm. In non-household settings, an outbreak is confirmed when two or more people test positive for COVID-19.

There are 2 new deaths reported. Both deaths were reported in the Regina zone from the 30-39 and 60-69 age groups.

That brings the provincial total number of deaths to 457.

There were 280 recoveries reported, bringing that provincial total to 33,880.

There are 202 people in hospital. One hundred and sixty-one people are receiving inpatient care - 2 in the Far North West zone,1 in the Far North East zone, 2 in the North West zone, 8 in the North Central zone, 1 in the North East zone, 47 in the Saskatoon zone, 10 in the Central East zone, and 80 in the Regina zone.

There are 3 people receiving inpatient care in the South West zone, and 7 in the South East zone.

There are 41 people in intensive care - 2 in the North Central zone, 6 in the Saskatoon zone, 2 in the Central East zone, and 28 in the Regina zone.

There is 1 person in intensive care in the South West zone, and 2 in the South Central zone.

To date, 710,655 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan.

And yesterday, there were 3,007 COVID-19 tests processed.

As of April 13, there are 3,813 variants of concern that have been identified by screening in the province - 8 in the Far North West zone, 2 in the Far North East zone, 28 in the North West zone, 44 in the North Central zone, 3 in the North East zone, 302 in the Saskatoon zone, 29 in the Central West zone, 111 in the Central East zone, and 2,505 in the Regina zone.

There are  40 variant of concern cases in the South West zone, 329 in the South Central zone, and 371 in the South East zone.

There are 41 cases with residence pending.

There were 0 new lineage results reported today. Of the 1,435 variants of concern cases with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing, 1,426 are B.1.1.1.7 (UK), and 9 are B.1.351 (SA).

The Regina zone accounts for 1,131 (or 79%) of the variants of concern cases with confirmed lineage reported in Saskatchewan.

Travel is not recommended in or out of the Regina area unless absolutely necessary.

Also, travel is  also not recommended to and from Moose Jaw and Weyburn.

An additional 7,846 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in Saskatchewan, bringing the total number of vaccines administered to 298,767.

Of the 7,846 doses reported there were 324 given in the South West zone.

Fifty-three percent of residents age 50+ have received their first vaccine dose.

The AstraZeneca Covax shipment (9,800 doses) is expected to arrive in Saskatchewan today, April 13.