There were 188 new confirmed cases on COVID-19 reported Thursday, along with 170 recoveries.

The new cases are located in the Far North West (18), Far North East (3), North West (13), North Central (26), Saskatoon (33), Central East (24), Regina (28), South West (5), South Central (3) and South East (27) zones and eight (8) new cases have pending residence information.

1,782 cases are considered active. 44 cases are considered active in the south central zone.

There are 214 people in hospital including 165 receiving inpatient care and 49 in ICU. 24 patients are receiving out-of-province ICU care in Ontario.

It should be noted that the Moose Jaw Chamber of Commerce has run out of rapid test kits. The chamber is hoping to receive more kits soon. Watch Discover Moose Jaw or the Chamber of Commerce Facebook page for when test kits will become available.

It was also announced that the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) at the University of Saskatchewan has received about $6 million from the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

This is CEPI's first-ever award to a Canadian university.

The award is part of CEPI’s $200-million program to advance the development of vaccines that provide broad protection against COVID-19 variants and other coronaviruses.

CEPI has a $3.5-billion, five-year plan, which aims to reduce or even eliminate the future risk of pandemics and epidemics.