In the April 22 COVID-19 update from The Saskatchewan Health Authority they are reporting a total of 254 new cases of the virus in the province.

Of those 254 new cases there are 14 in the Far North West zone, 9 in the Far North East zone, 18 in the North West zone, 12 in the North Central zone, 7 in the North East zone, 31 in the Saskatoon zone, 4 in the Central West zone, 19 in the Central East zone, and 76 in the Regina zone.

There are 14 new cases in the South West zone, 17 in the South Central zone, and 29 in the South East zone.

There are 4 cases with residence pending information.

Five cases with pending residence information have been assigned as follows - 2 to the Regina zone, and 3 to the South East zone.

That brings the provincial total number of cases to 39,137, of which 2,505 are considered active.

There are 111 active cases in the South West zone - 66 in the South West subzone 1, and 45 in the South West subzone 2.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 case numbers is 248 (20.2 new cases per 100,000 population).

There is one new death reported in the 50-59 age group in the South Central zone.

That brings the provincial total number of deaths to 470.

There are 177 people in hospital. One hundred and twenty-nine are receiving inpatient care - 1 in the Far North East zone, 5 in the North West zone, 6 in the North Central zone, 43 in the Saskatoon zone, 8 in the Central East zone, and 53 in the Regina zone.

There is 1 person receiving inpatient care in the South West zone, 4 in the South Central zone, and 8 in the South East zone.

There are 48 people in intensive care - 2 in the North Central zone, 8 in the Saskatoon zone, 3 in the Central East zone, and 34 in the Regina zone.

There is 1 person in intensive care in the South West zone.

There are 299 recoveries, bringing the provincial total to 36,162.

To date, there has been 741,278 COVID-19 tests processed in Saskatchewan.

And yesterday, there were 3,706 COVID-19 tests processed.

As of April 21, there were 5,521 variants of concern cases identified by screening in the province - the total amounts are 49 in the Far North West zone, 2 in the Far North East zone, 108 in the North West zone, 71 in the North Central zone, 8 in the North East zone, 560 in the Saskatoon zone, 75 in the Central West zone, 229 in the Central East zone, and 3,206 in the Regina zone.

The total number of variants of concern cases are 136 in the South West zone, 432 in the South Central zone, and 575 in the South East zone.

There are 70 screened variants of concern cases with residences pending.

There are 0 new lineage results reported. Of the 2,060 variants of concern with lineages identified by whole genome sequencing,  2,046 are B.1.1.1.7 (UK), 9 are B.1.351 (SA), and 5 are P.1. (Brazilian).

The Regina zone accounts for 1,474 (or 72%) of the variants of concern cases confirmed with lineage reported in Saskatchewan.

The Weekly Monitoring Report for children and youth, age 0-19 years for the week of April 12 - 18, shows a provincial total of 701 active cases in children and youth with 7 of those with location/residence information unavailable

There are 22 active cases in children and youth in the Far North West zone, 3 in the Far North East zone, 59 in the North West zone,29 in the North Central zone, 12 in the North East zone, 21 in the Central West zone, 35 in the Central East zone, 135 in the Saskatoon zone, 215 in the Regina zone, 44 in the South West zone, 50 in the South Central zone, and 77 in the South East zone.

An additional 7,333 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in the province, bringing the total number administered to 372,334.

Of those 7,333 doses there were 328 administered in the South West zone.

More than 300,000 people, or 53%, of residents aged 40 and up have received their first dose.

All of this week's scheduled Pfizer shipment has arrived and is being distributed as follows - 12,870 doses in Saskatoon, 10,530 doses in Regina, 2,340 doses in Prince Albert, 2,340 doses in North Battleford, and 1,170 doses in Yorkton.

Indigenous Services Canada has also received this weeks scheduled Pfizer shipment (2,340 doses) for distribution to indigenous communities.

Select pharmacies in 14 Saskatchewan communities will start to receive vaccine on April 29 as  part of a pilot program to offer COVID-19 vaccinations. Booking for appointments may be offered as early as Monday April 26.

Up to 63 pharmacies will participate in a small-scale rollout to refine distribution and vaccination processes.