Wednesday’s provincial update showed nine new, confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus with seven in the Far North region and two in the Saskatoon area for a total of 693. Back on Monday, there were 18 new, confirmed cases of COVID-19 but only one new infection reported in Saskatchewan on Tuesday. Of the 693 total confirmed cases, 47 are said to be active with a total of 633 individuals having recovered after two people recovered from the virus in Wednesday’s update. The number of hospitalized patients, due to COVID-19, went down by the one inpatient case in the Far North. That leaves an inpatient infection and one person in Intensive Care in Saskatoon.

With nine more new, confirmed cases of COVID-19 contained in today’s (Wednesday’s) provincial update, the Saskatchewan Health Authority is reminding residents of the Re-Open plan guidelines for weddings, funerals and graduations apply to services and ceremonies taking place indoors and outdoors.

For outdoor grads, multiple groups of 30 people up to a maximum of 150 are allowed so long as there is adequate physical distancing of two metres between individuals, unless they are part of the same family group. Other groups of 30 must be arranged the same way with at least five metres of space between the groups of 30. For indoor religious or non-religious ceremonies, weddings or funerals the total number of people in attendance cannot exceed 30 per cent of seating capacity or 150 people, whichever is less. No food or drink service is allowed at any wedding, funeral or graduation event whether it is indoor or outdoor.

Of the 693 cases in the province:

• 146 cases are travellers;
• 417 are community contacts (including mass gatherings);
• 82 have no known exposures; and
• 48 are under investigation by local public health.

Overall in Saskatchewan:

• 53 cases are health care workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to health care in all instances.
• 284 of the cases are from the Far North, 184 are from the Saskatoon area, 112 from the North, 80 from the Regina area, 19 from the South and 12 from the Central region.
• 105 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults.
• 243 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 211 are in the 40-59 age range; 115 are in the 60-79 age range; and 19 are in the 80-plus range.
• 51 per cent of the cases are females and 49 per cent are males.
• 13 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.

To date, 57,217 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Saskatchewan. As of June 15, 2020, when other provincial and national numbers were available from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 43,193 people tested per million population. The national rate was 58,972 people tested per million population.