In the April 15 COVID-19 update from The Saskatchewan Health Authority they are reporting 293 new cases of the virus in the province.

The new cases are located as follows - 8 in the Far North West zone, 24 in the North West zone, 8 in the North Central zone, 5 in the North East zone, 74 in the Saskatoon zone, 15 in the Central West zone, 22 in the Central East zone, and 87 in the Regina zone.

There are currently 4 new cases in t he South West zone, 4 in the South Central zone, and 24 in the South East zone.

 There are 18 new cases with pending residence information.

Five cases with pending residence information have been assigned as follows - 1 to the North West zone, 3 to the Regina zone, and 1 to the South East zone.

One case with pending residence information has been found to an out of the province resident and removed from the counts.

Seven cases that were tested out of the province have been added as follows - 1 to the North West zone, 3 to the Saskatoon zone, 1 to the Regina zone, and 2 to the South East zone.

That brings the provincial total number of cases to 37,384, of which 2,599 are considered active.

There are currently 67 active cases in the South West zone - 32 in the South West subzone 1, and 35 in the South West subzone 2.

There are a number of outbreaks listed in the South West zone including the community of Maple Creek, and Key Energy, Nimegeers Carlson Law Firm, and Standard Dodge in Swift Current.

In non-household settings, an outbreak is confirmed when two or more people test positive for COVID-19.

There are 223 recoveries reported, bringing that provincial total to 34,325.

There are 2 new deaths reported. One death was reported in the 70-79 age group from the Regina zone, and one death was reported in the 80+ age group from the South East zone.

That brings the provincial total number of deaths to 460.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 284 (23.2 new cases per 100,000 population).

There are 188 people in hospital. There are 147 receiving inpatient care - 1 in the Far North West zone, 1 in the Far North East, 3 in the North West zone, 6 in the North Central zone, 2 in the North East zone, 40 in the Saskatoon zone, 10 in the Central East zone, and 73 in the Regina zone.

There is 1 person receiving inpatient care in the South West zone, 1 in the South Central zone, and 9 in the South East zone.

There are 41 people in intensive care - 1 in the North Central zone, 9 in the Saskatoon zone, 2 in the Central East zone, and 27 in the Regina zone.

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

To date, 717,486 COVID-19 test have been processed in Saskatchewan.

And yesterday, there were 3,573 COVID-19 tests processed.

As of April 15, 4,183 variants of concern have been identified by screening in the province - 10 in the Far North West zone, 2 in the Far North East zone, 51 in the North West zone, 48 in the North Central zone, 4 in the North East zone, 372 in the Saskatoon zone, 44 in the Central West zone, 135 in the Central East zone, and 2,673 in the Regina zone.

There are 67 variants of concern cases in the South West zone, 342 in the South Central zone, and 398 in the South East zone.

There are 37 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 in Saskatchewan, 1,426 are B.1.1.1.7 (US) , and 9 are the B.1.351 (SA),

The Regina zone accounts for 1,138 (or 79%) of the variants of concern cases with confirmed lineage reported in the province.

Avoid all unnecessary travel throughout the province at this time.

All Public Health measures are in effect until April 26 and will be reviewed at that time.

The eligible age for booking vaccination appointments online or by telephone will be lowered to 48 years of age starting at 8 a.m. Friday April 16.

Drive-thru vaccination clinics are open today to ages 51-54 and for tomorrow, April 16, 48-54. This does not include Regina. .The Regina COVID-19 vaccine drive-thru will be available to residents 46-54 years of age starting Friday April 16.

The Weekly Monitoring Report for children and youth aged  0-19 years was released today.

For the week of April 5-11 there are 670 active cases in children and youth in the province, with 9 of those have location/residence information unavailable - 13 in the Far North West zone, 5 in the Far North East zone, 40 in the North West zone, 11 in the North Central zone, 8 in the North East zone,  5 in the Central West zone,40 in the Central East zone, 111 in the Saskatoon zone, 261 in the Regina zone, 14 in the South West zone, 57 in the South Central zone, and 96 in the South East zone.

In the South West zone there is one active outbreak in Swift Current at the All Saints Catholic School.

An additional 7,956 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in the province, bringing the total number of vaccines administered to 315,405.

Of those 7,956 doses there were 116 given in the South West zone.

Fifty-six per cent of Saskatchewan residents aged 50+ have received their first dose.