The province says there were 224 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday with the Regina region once again seeing the majority of new cases as there were 122.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority is also telling Moose Jaw and area residents to take additional precautions because of increasing community transmission of COVID-19 variants of concern.

The SHA says the VoC mode of transmission and the symptoms are the same as the original strain of COVID-19 virus. However, evidence indicates that these Variants of Concern are 36 to 70 percent more transmissible, meaning it spreads more easily. Older residents and those with underlying health conditions continue to be those at greatest risk of severe illness and death.

As of March 26, 1,240 variants of concern have been identified by screening in Saskatchewan, reported in the Far North East (1), Saskatoon (18), Central West (1), Central East (24), Regina (1,041), South Central (80) and South East (75) zones. That is an increase of 85 from Friday’s report.

Out of the 1,817 active cases in Saskatchewan, Regina has 964 of them.

The other new cases are located in the Far North West (4), Far North East (2), North West (10), North Central (9), North East (13), Saskatoon (28), Central West (4), Central East (3), South Central (18) and South East (11) zones.

152 people are in hospital with 25 of those in the ICU.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 190 (15.5 new cases per 100,000).

4,814 vaccines were delivered with Regina, Saskatoon and the east-central zone all having over 1,000 administered on Friday.