Saskatchewan has recorded its highest daily number of new COVID-19 cases at 439, according to Saturday’s update from the Ministry of Health. The report also says there were 4,580 tests processed yesterday in the province, a new daily high, which the government cites for the high number of new cases, adding that the fluctuation in daily case numbers can still be expected due to weather-related and logistical delays in specimens reaching the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory. Saturday’s update quoted the seven-day average for new cases at 203, or 16.7 per 100,000 population, a statistic that will be reported on a daily basis from now on.

Saskatoon had 170 of the new cases while nine of them have pending residence information. Only the Far North West and Central West zones had fewer than 10 new cases. With 41 recoveries, the active case count in Saskatchewan is up to 2,537.  Ninety three people are in hospital and 21 of those receiving treatment in an I-C-U. Eleven of the 21 I-C-U patients are in Saskatoon hospitals.

In total, since the pandemic was declared in mid-March in the province, there have been 6,237 reported cases of COVID-19 with 33 deaths and 3,667 people having recovered.

The new cases are located in the Far North West (9), Far North East (13), North West (56), North Central (43), North East (11), Saskatoon (170), Central West (8), Central East (13), Regina (56), South West (14), South Central (18) and South East (19) zones. Nine (9) new cases have pending residence information.

Seventy-two people are receiving inpatient care; eight in the North West, seven in North Central, one in the North East, 32 in Saskatoon, one in Central East, five in Regina, one in South Central and 17 in the South East zone. Twenty-one people are in intensive care: three in North Central, eleven in Saskatoon, one in Central East, one in South West and five in Regina.

Of the 6,237 cases in the province:

• 434 cases are travelers;
• 2,731 are community contacts (including mass gatherings);
• 1,283 have no known exposures; and
• 1,789 are under investigation by local public health.

Overall in Saskatchewan to date:

• 183 cases are healthcare workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to healthcare in all instances.
• 1,333 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults.
• 2,234 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 1,671 are in the 40-59 age range; 790 are in the 60-79 age range; and 204 are in the 80-plus range. Confirmation of age is pending for five cases.
• 51 per cent of the cases are females and 49 per cent are males.
• 33 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.

Of 6,237 confirmed cases:

• 1,841 cases are from the Saskatoon area
• 1,346 cases are from the north area (469 north west, 623 north central, 254 north east)
• 906 cases are from the Regina area
• 838 cases are from the south area (307 south west, 335 south central, 196 south east)
• 747 cases are from the far north area (522 far north west, 66 far north central, 159 far north east)
• 530 cases are from the central area (236 central west, 294 central east)
• 29 cases have pending residence information

To date, 314,670 COVID-19 tests have been processed Saskatchewan.  As of November 19, 2020 when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 204,116 people tested per million population.  The national rate was 285,899 people tested per million population.