Four more Saskatchewan residents who previously tested positive for COVID-19 have died, increasing the province’s death toll due to the virus in the past five days to 20.
The deaths reported Thursday included a person in the 80-and-over age group who lived in the Regina area, an individual over the age of 80 from the south-central zone, a person in the 30-to-39 age group who lived in the north-central region, and a person in their 50s from the northeast zone.
The total number of deaths due to the virus in Saskatchewan since March now stands at 75.
Since Nov. 22, 42 residents of the province have died: 27 aged 80 and over, six who were in their 60s, six who were in their 70, two between the ages of 30 and 39, and one who was in their 50s.
The province also reported 324 new cases Thursday, increasing the province’s total to date to 11,223.
The new cases were in the Saskatoon (109), Regina (53), northwest (47), north-central (37), far northwest (15), far northeast (15), southwest (15), northeast (nine), southeast (eight), central-east (six), far north-central (three), south-central (two) and central-west (one) areas.
The hometowns of four cases are pending.
The seven-day average of new cases in the province rose to 283, or 23.3 per 100,000 population.
The province reported a new single-day high of recoveries, with 345. That increased the total so far to 6,466 people.
The number of active cases stands at 4,682, including 1,401 in the Saskatoon area and 1,115 in the Regina region.
“It is anticipated that the number of cases designated as ‘active’ will decline as older cases are reviewed and potentially shifted to recovered status,” the government’s media release said. “This work is ongoing.”
There are 138 people in hospital, including 31 in intensive care. That number includes 11 ICU cases in Saskatoon, 10 in Regina, eight in the north-central region, one in the southwest and one in the south-central zone.
The 107 people receiving inpatient care are spread among Saskatoon (47), Regina (25), the north-central (16), northwest (seven), southeast (seven), northeast (two), central-east (one), southwest (one) and south-central areas (one).
Of the total number of cases in the province, 4,792 are community contacts, 3,338 remain under investigation, 2,567 don’t have any known exposures, and 526 are travellers.
To date, 376 health-care workers in the province have contracted the virus. That’s an increase of 17 from Wednesday’s report.
The total number of cases comprises 3,369 from the Saskatoon area, 2,348 from the north, 2,230 in the Regina region, 1,349 in the south, 1,172 in the far north, and 721 from the central zone. There currently are 34 cases with unknown residences.
Demographically, the new cases reported Thursday were split between the 20-to-39 (130), 50-to-69 (85), 19-and-under (48), 60-to-79 (41) and 80-and-over (20) age groups.
There were 3,476 tests processed Wednesday, increasing the provincial total to date to 375,881.
According to weekly data, there were 1,022 active cases among those 19 and under in the province as of Sunday. There were 4,014 tests done in that age group from Nov. 30 through Sunday.