A sixth person has died from COVID-19 in Saskatchewan, there are 17 new cases and a cluster has been identified in Lloydminster.

A second Saskatchewan resident in their 80’s from the far north region has died this week from complications related to COVID-19 bringing the coronavirus death toll in the province to six.

And it is what the province has been preparing for but never wanted to see, transmission of COVID-19 in a hospital setting. The new COVID-19 cases in Lloydminster have been linked to a Lloydminster Hospital. Thirteen cases have been identified, including five health care workers and eight patients. The patients are being co-horted in separate units in the Lloydminster hospital.

Eleven of the 17 new cases are from the far north in La Loche, five from the north region which includes four in Lloydminster and one from the Saskatoon area.

Eighty-six of the cases are active and there are 10 people in hospital with three in intensive care in Saskatoon.

As well, the province says a couple of mass-gathering events were held recently in Saskatchewan. Apparently, the organizers mistakenly believed that gatherings were allowed as long as those taking part maintained two metres of separation. However, these types of group events are not allowed – whether or not people practice physical distancing. Any gatherings that exceed 10 people are in violation of the current public health order.

Of the 383 cases in the province:

137 cases are travellers;

154 are community contacts (mass gatherings included);

35 have no known exposures; and

57 are under investigation by local public health.

Overall in Saskatchewan:

38 of the cases are health care workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to health care in all instances.

151 of the cases are from the Saskatoon area, 75 from the Regina area, 74 from the north, 57 from the far north, 15 from the south, and 11 from the central region.

34 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults.

140 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 129 are in the 40-59 age range; 69 are in the 60-79 age range; and 11 are in the 80-plus range.

50 per cent of the cases are males and 50 per cent are females.

Six deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.

To date, 29,106 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of April 27, 2020, when other provincial and national numbers were available from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 22,917 people tested per million population, which exceeds the national rate of 19,709 people tested per million population.