Province adds two COVID-19 cases

Saskatchewan reported two new cases of COVID-19 this weekend with one new recovery on Saturday.

One new case is in the far north and the other is in Saskatoon, bringing the province’s total to 665 cases, 24 of which are considered active. A total of 628 people have now recovered, according to a news release on Sunday.

Two people are currently in hospital, with one in inpatient care in the north and one in intensive care in Saskatoon.

Of the province’s 665 cases, 146 are travellers, 401 are community contacts including mass gatherings, 80 have no known exposures and 38 are under investigation by local public health.

Saskatchewan’s testing rate continues to be below the national average, although the province has the capacity to test well above that.

In an effort to eliminate any stigma around getting a COVID-19 test, two Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) employees were tested and described the experience for reporters on Friday.

“In my case, it took about five minutes from the time I got to the testing site until I was done. And then the result of the test, I got within 24 hours,” said Monica Reinkens, a patient family adviser.

Overall in Saskatchewan:

■ 51 cases are health-care workers, although the source of the infections may not be related to health care in all instances.

■ 264 of the cases are from the far north, 178 are from the Saskatoon area, 112 from the north, 80 from the Regina area, 19 from the south and 12 from the central region.

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

■ 237 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 200 are in the 40-59 age range; 112 are in the 60-79 age range; and 18 are in the 80-plus range.

■ 52 per cent of the cases are females and 48 per cent are males.

■ 13 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.

■ As of Sunday, 55,656 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province.