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For the first time in more than a week, the number of active COVID-19 cases being reported in Saskatchewan dropped.
In a media release Friday, the Ministry of Health reported there were 81 new cases and 108 recoveries. The number of active cases fell to 1,427 from Thursday’s total of 1,459.
The last time the province reported a decrease in the number of active cases was Nov. 4.
However, the number of people in hospital in Saskatchewan due to COVID-19 went over 50 for the first time.
The ministry said there were 53 people in Saskatchewan health-care facilities. That includes 15 individuals in intensive care, which also is a single-day high for the province.
During a media conference Friday morning, Scott Livingstone — the CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority — said the organization has added 550 positions to support its COVID response, but it’s also redeploying staff from other areas.
Livingstone said the SHA wasn’t planning any across-the-board service slowdowns, but it will be looking at localized slowdowns if the caseload keeps climbing.
“It’s critical to remember that our commitment will be to make these as minimal as possible in both their scale and their duration, but they will be needed at times over the next few months and weeks to fight COVID and ensure that our acute-care services remain available to those who need them,” he said.
The 81 new cases reported Friday represented the first time since Nov. 6 that Saskatchewan hadn’t had a triple-digit caseload.
Of the new cases, 16 were in the Regina region and five were in the Saskatoon area. The others were in the northeast (11), north-central (10), south-central (eight), northwest (seven), far north-central (six), southwest (six), southeast (four), central-east (four), far northeast (three) and far northwest (one) zones.
The provincial total to date now stands at 4,513 cases.
The recoveries reported Friday increased that total so far to 3,057. To date, 29 residents of the province have died after testing positive for COVID-19.
There are 38 people receiving inpatient care, with 20 in Saskatoon, five in each of the north-central and northeast zones, three in the southeast, two in Regina and one in each of the far northwest, northwest and southwest areas.
The ICU patients are in Saskatoon (eight), north-central (three), central-east (two), northwest (one) and Regina (one).
To date, there have been 1,237 cases in the Saskatoon area, 948 from the north zone, 683 in the Regina region, 611 from the south, 564 in the far north, and 459 from the central zone.
The hometowns of 11 cases are pending.
The total number of cases comprises 2,071 community contacts, 1,023 cases that are being investigated, 1,018 cases without any known exposures, and 401 travellers.
To date, 134 health-care workers in the province have contracted the virus.
There were 1,706 tests done Thursday, increasing the total so far to 291,072.
