The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan dropped under 400 for the first time in a month Friday.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, that figure now stands at 380. The last time it was that low was Sept. 13, when it also was 380.
The average has dropped 17.5 per cent in a week; on Oct. 8, it stood at 461.
The ministry reported 312 new cases Friday, the fourth straight day the total was under 330. But there were only 2,561 tests done in the province, resulting in a test positivity rate of 12.1 per cent.
There also were 238 recoveries reported, along with four deaths. Saskatchewan has reported at least one fatality due to COVID for 41 straight days.
The latest deaths included two people in the 60-to-79 age range and two in the 80-and-over age group. Three of the people lived in the far northwest, while the fourth was a resident of the central-east zone.
To date, 773 Saskatchewan residents have died as a result of COVID.
The province also reported 339 hospitalizations due to COVID, with 78 of those cases in intensive care.
A look at the numbers
The new cases were located in the Regina (59), northwest (39), central-east (34), Saskatoon (33), southeast (32), north-central (20), far northeast (19), far northwest (10), northeast (eight), south-central (eight), southwest (five) and central-west (two) zones. The hometowns of 43 cases are pending.
The total number of cases reported to date in Saskatchewan is 73,662.
The new cases reported Friday comprised 243 unvaccinated people, 57 individuals who were considered fully vaccinated and 12 people who were partially vaccinated.
The unvaccinated group included 65 kids under the age of 12, the age group that currently isn’t eligible to be immunized.
Active cases rose by 70 to 4,364. The number of recoveries stands at 68,525.
Of the 339 COVID patients in Saskatchewan hospitals, 256 of them — more than 75 per cent — weren’t fully vaccinated.
There were 4,159 doses of COVID vaccine administered in the province, with 2,306 of those second doses.
So far, 761,888 people have received two doses and are considered fully vaccinated. More than 1.6 million total COVID shots have been given to date in Saskatchewan.