Active cases of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan went down in Friday’s update, but the numbers of new infections and people recovering was the highest of the week. Twenty-two new cases of the novel coronavirus were reported Friday with 26 people having recovered, leaving 139 active cases of COVID-19 in the province eight of them in hospital. There is an I-C-U patient in, both, Saskatoon and Regina. Four of six inpatient care cases are in Saskatoon with one each in Regina and the South West zone.

The 22 new cases were spread over seven zones Friday with five in Saskatoon, four in each of the North Central and Central East zones, three in Central West and two each in the Far North East and South Central zones plus the Regina area. Overall, there have been 2,034 reported cases of the virus in Saskatchewan with 1,871 recoveries.

Between September 28th and October 4th in Saskatchewan there were 35 children and youth who tested positive for COVID-19.

There was one case in the Far North West, one in North Central, one in North East, Central East is reporting seven, Regina has six, South Central with two and again this week, Saskatoon has the lion’s share with 17 reported cases of COVID-19 among children and youth.

The Ministry of Health indicates that COVID-19 activity in schools will usually reflect the background-level of COVID-19 in communities.

Regina Public Schools has decided to cancel classes for the remainder of Friday after a positive COVID-19 case was identified at Winston Knoll Collegiate in Regina. The person affected has not been at school since Tuesday.

Ile-a-la-Crosse RCMP have joined detachments in Deschambault Lake, Southend and Pelican Narrows and are restricting access to their detachment in light of recent positive COVID-19 tests in all those communities

Front counter service is available for appointments and emergency services only. The Operational Communication Centres are open 24/7 and remain fully functional for all emergency calls.

Of the 2,034 cases in the province to date:

• 308 cases are travellers;
• 1,004 are community contacts (including mass gatherings);
• 590 have no known exposures; and
• 132 are under investigation by local public health.

Overall in Saskatchewan to date:

• 77 cases are healthcare workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to healthcare in all instances.
• 348 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults.
• 681 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 612 are in the 40-59 age range; 325 are in the 60-79 age range; and 68 are in the 80-plus range.
• 51 per cent of the cases are females and 49 per cent are males.
• 24 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.
• There are:
  • 460 cases are from the south area (225 south west, 207 south central, 28 south east)
  • 425 cases are from the Saskatoon area
  • 367 cases are from the far north area (354 far north west, 0 far north central, 13 far north east)
  • 293 cases are from the central area (180 central west, 113 central east)
  • 289 cases are from the north area (133 north west, 87 north central, 69 north east)
  • 200 cases are from the Regina area

To date, 209,560 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Saskatchewan. As of October 7, 2020 when other provincial and national numbers are available from Public Health Agency of Canada, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 145,605 people tested per million population. The national rate was 212,158 people tested per million population.

On Thursday, 2,330 COVID-19 tests were performed in Saskatchewan.