The province says testing for COVID-19 variants of concern can now happen at the Roy Romanow Provincial Lab in Regina.

The lab can test up to 192 samples a week with 120 continuing to go to Winnipeg to the National Microbiology Lab to ensure a larger sample size.

In a statement from the government, it says the lab will continue focussing on whole-genome sequencing testing on positive COVID-19 results linked to international travel, declared outbreaks and cases of unexpected severe illness as well as a random sampling of confirmed cases.

There have been six confirmed and one presumed case of the variants identified so far in Saskatchewan

The news comes as the seven-day daily average falls to 143 with 154 new cases being announced on Monday.