Latest COVID update Dec. 17: 7 deaths, 238 new cases, 466 recoveries

The COVID-related death toll in Saskatchewan surpassed 100 on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Health, seven more people who had tested positive for the virus had died. There now have been 105 COVID-related deaths in the province since March.

The deaths announced Thursday included five people in the 80-and-over age group (three in the Regina area and one in each of the Saskatoon and southwest zones), one person in their 60s from the north-central area and one individual in their 40s who lived in the southeast area of the province.

Since Nov. 22, 72 Saskatchewan residents have died from the virus. That number includes 49 people aged 80 and over.

The government also announced 238 new cases Thursday, increasing the province’s total since March to 12,832.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 230, or 19 per 100,000 population.

The new cases reported Thursday were located in the Saskatoon (81), Regina (40), north-central (32), northwest (26), far northeast (15), northeast (nine), central-east (seven), south-central (seven), far northwest (five), southwest (three), southeast (three) and far north-central (one) areas.

The hometowns of nine new cases are being determined.

There were 466 recoveries reported, the second-highest single-day total yet. It’s surpassed only by the 713 recoveries announced Saturday.

The number of active cases being reported in Saskatchewan stands at 3,978. It’s the first time that number has been below 4,000 since it was at 3,970 on Dec. 2.

There are 22 people in intensive care in the province, with nine in Saskatoon, eight in Regina and five in the north-central region.

The 104 people receiving inpatient care are in hospitals in the Saskatoon (44), Regina (23), north-central (16), southwest (nine), southeast (five), far northwest (three), central-east (two), central-west (one) and south-central (one) areas.

To date, 534 health-care workers have contracted the virus. That’s an increase of 20 from Wednesday’s report.

The total number of cases includes 6,117 community contacts, 3,259 that are being investigated by local public health officials, 2,885 that don’t have any known exposures, and 571 travellers.

The total comprises 3,790 cases from the Saskatoon area, 2,836 in the north, 2,564 in the Regina region, 1,457 in the south, 1,353 from the far north, and 788 in the central zone. There also are 44 cases that are awaiting residence information.

There have been 4,501 cases in the 20-to-39 age range, 3,350 from ages 40 to 59, 2,731 involving people 19 and under, 1,683 between the ages of 60 and 79, and 562 in the 80-and-over range. The ages of five cases remain undetermined.

Of the cases reported Thursday, 85 were in the 20-to-39 range, 59 were among people 19 and under, 58 were in the 40-to-59 group, 23 were ages 60 to 79, and 13 were in the 80-and-over group.

There were 2,875 tests processed in the province on Wednesday, increasing the provincial total so far to 396,555.

As of Tuesday, Saskatchewan’s per-capita rate was 244,094 people tested per million population. The national rate was 339,375.