Sask. reports 34 new COVID-19 cases; active cases at 238

Saskatchewan’s string of days with more than 20 new cases of COVID-19 reached five on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Health reported 34 new cases, following announcements of 22 cases on Friday, 34 on Saturday, 24 on Sunday and 48 on Monday.

Over the past eight days — all of which featured double-digit caseloads — Saskatchewan has reported 206 new cases. The province’s total to date now stands at 2,174.

The recent spike in case numbers prompted Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer, to amend the public health order and limit indoor private gatherings to a maximum of 15 people. The maximum had been 30.

The cases reported Tuesday comprised 11 in the Regina region, nine in the north-central area, eight in the Saskatoon area, four in the central-west zone and two that don’t have set locations as yet.

“Public health investigations continue to follow up on all new cases to determine if they have links to known events or if they are new transmissions within the community,” the ministry’s media release said.

There were 11 recoveries reported, increasing that total so far to 1,911. To date, 25 residents of the province have died after testing positive for COVID-19.

There are 238 active cases being reported, the highest-such figure since there were 253 active cases on Aug. 4.

The current total of active cases includes 51 in the Saskatoon area, 47 in the north-central zone, 42 in the Regina region and 39 in the central-east area,

Nine people are in hospital.

Seven of those — four in Saskatoon and one each in the Regina, north-central and central-east areas — are receiving inpatient care. Two people are in intensive care, with one in Regina and one in Saskatoon.

The total number of cases comprises 1,066 community contacts (including mass gatherings), 613 without any known exposures, 317 travellers and 178 that remain under investigation by local public health officials.

To date, 78 health-care workers have contracted the coronavirus.

There have been 465 cases from the south area (226 southwest, 207 south-central, 32 southeast), 450 from the Saskatoon zone, 375 in the far north (356 far northwest, 19 far northeast), 338 from the north (140 northwest, 127 north-central, 71 northeast), 314 in the central area (187 central-west, 127 central-east), and 230 in the Regina region. Two others have yet to be assigned to a region.

Demographically, there have been 726 cases in the 20-to-39 age range, 658 from ages 40 to 59, 373 involving people 19 and under, 347 between the ages of 60 and 79, and 70 in the 80-and-over range.

There were 2,037 tests done in Saskatchewan on Monday, increasing the province’s total to date to 218,959.

In its media release, the ministry said the test numbers reported in Monday’s update were incorrect, since 684 tests had been counted twice. There were 2,553 tests done Sunday.