Latest COVID update Oct. 31: October marks deadliest month of pandemic

Saskatchewan has seen more deaths from COVID in October than any other month since the pandemic began.

In its daily update Sunday, the province announced one new death. That means there have been 157 deaths in October, the highest single-month total ever.

January previously held the record with 151 deaths.

The downward trend in cases also continued. There were 170 new cases and 354 recoveries, dropping the active case total to 2,122.

There was no change in the number of people hospitalized with the virus.

According to the Ministry of Health:

• As of October 31st, there are 170 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 77,664 reported cases.
• The new cases are located in the Far North West (13), North West (18), North Central (12), North East (11), Saskatoon (28), Central West (3), Central East (19), Regina (30), South West (5), South Central (6), and South East (13) zones and twelve (12) new cases have pending residence information.
• Seven (7) cases with pending residence information were assigned to the North West (from October 7 (1)), North Central (from October 28 (3)), Central East (from October 28 (2)), South East (from October 28 (1)) zones.
• 77,664 cases are confirmed
  • 18,998 cases are from the North area (8,438 North West, 7,778 North Central, 2,782 North East)
  • 18,704 cases are from the Saskatoon area
  • 15,263 cases are from the Regina area
  • 9,457 cases are from the South area (2,095 South West, 2,833 South Central, 4,529 South East)
  • 9,110 cases are from the Far North area (4,259 Far North West, 541 Far North Central, 4,310 Far North East)
  • 5,510 cases are from the Central area (1,390 Central West, 4,120 Central East)
  • 622 cases have pending residence information
• 2,122 cases are considered active and 74,691 cases are considered recovered.
• One-third (33.5%) of new cases are in the age category of 11 years and under.
• More than one-quarter (26.5%) of new cases eligible for vaccination (aged 12 years and older) were fully vaccinated.
• As of October 31st, a total of 226 individuals are hospitalized; including 172 inpatient hospitalizations, and 54 ICU hospitalizations. Of the 226 patients, 157 (69.5%) were not fully vaccinated.
• In addition to SK ICUs, there are 24 residents in out-of-province ICUs. As these patients are receiving care out of province, this number is not included in the hospitalization counts in dashboard.
• One (1) new death reported today. 851 Saskatchewan residents with COVID-19 have died with a case fatality rate of 1.1%.
• 1,226,344 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of October 28, 2021, when other provincial and national numbers were available from PHAC, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 1,032,838 tests performed per million. The national rate was 1,212,788 tests performed per million.
• The 7-day average of new COVID-19 case numbers was 193 (16.1 new cases per 100,000).