New, more transmissible COVID-19 subvariant on the rise in Sask.

About one in four COVID-19 samples tested in Saskatchewan have been found to be the new, more transmissible Omicron BA.5 subvariant.

Deputy Chief Medical Health Officer Julie Kryzanowski said in an interview with CTV News that the figure holds true for the two most recent COVID-19 reporting weeks, June 12 and June 19.

She cautioned that only around 175 to 250 specimens are tested each week, so some variation is possible — but confirmed that BA.5 is an increasing proportion of cases.

"And if we look to what's happened in other provinces, what's happened in the United States, one possibility is that BA.5 will overtake BA.2 as the dominant strain in the province."

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BA.5 now makes up about 38 per cent of cases in Canada after being first detected in May, according to the latest federal data. In the United States, BA.5 is now the most common strain of coronavirus, consisting of 54 per cent of cases.

Both BA.5 and BA.2 are variants of concern, meaning they are more transmissible than earlier strains and can better infect people who have been previously infected or vaccinated.

BA.5 appears to be even more transmissible and people with symptoms of a respiratory illness could "quite likely" have COVID-19, Kryzanowski said. However, she said there is no strong evidence to show it produces more severe symptoms or is more likely to lead to hospitalization.

"Recent vaccination does confer some protection against infection. It's not perfect. But it does reduce the risk that somebody will be infected with COVID-19 and develop COVID disease. Vaccines do provide good and sustained protection against severe outcomes. And that really is the most important thing in preventing hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths. So we continue to see that the vaccines do provide long-lasting durable protection against those severe outcomes."

She advises people with symptoms or underlying health conditions to continue to use rapid tests, stay away from others and wear masks to reduce transmission.