Latest COVID update Oct. 17: Active cases drop below 4,000, five deaths, ICU cases hit new high

Saskatchewan’s latest COVID update was another mixed bag.

In its daily update Sunday, the province reported 320 cases and 645 recoveries. That drops the active total to 3,967, the first time it’s been below 4,000 since Sep. 14.

However, for the second straight day, there was a new record set for COVID patients in the province’s ICU: there are 333 in hospital, with 84 in intensive care.

There were also five new deaths reported.

According to the Ministry of Health:

• As of October 17th, there are 320 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 74,394 reported cases.
• The new cases are located in the Far North West (5), Far North East (5), North West (43), North Central (20), North East (7), Saskatoon (69), Central West (9), Central East (38), Regina (64), South West (5), South Central (10) and South East (29) zones and 16 new cases have pending residence information.
• 11 cases with pending residence information were assigned to Far North West (from September 30 (1)), Far North East (from October 15 (1)), North West (from September 7 (1), October 12 (1), October 14 (1), October 15 (2)), North Central (from October 15 (3)) and Central East (from October 9 (1)) zones.
• 74,394 cases are confirmed:
  • 18,230 cases are from the North area (8,078 North West, 7,451 North Central, 2,701 North East)
  • 17,902 cases are from the Saskatoon area
  • 14,685 cases are from the Regina area
  • 8,990 cases are from the South area (2,018 South West, 2,745 South Central, 4,227 South East)
  • 8,852 cases are from the Far North area (4,148 Far North West, 541 Far North Central, 4,163 Far North East)
  • 5,087 cases are from the Central area (1,345 Central West, 3,742 Central East)
  • 648 cases have pending residence information
• 3,967 cases are considered active and 69,646 cases are considered recovered.
• Almost one-third (30.3%) of new cases are in the age category of 20 to 39.
• One in five (20.7%) of new cases eligible for vaccination (aged 12 years and older) were fully vaccinated.
• As of October 17th, a total of 333 individuals are hospitalized; including 249 inpatient hospitalizations, and 84 ICU hospitalizations. Of the 333 patients, 251 (75.4%) were not fully vaccinated.
• Five (5) new deaths reported today. 781 Saskatchewan residents with COVID-19 have died with a case fatality rate of 1.0%
• 1,192,309 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of October 14th, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers are available from PHAC, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 1,002,046 tests performed per million population. The national rate was 1,179,741 tests performed per million population.
• As of today, the 7-day average of new COVID-19 case numbers is 340 (28.2 new cases per 100,000).