8 new coronavirus cases in Saskatchewan, outbreak declared over at Meadow Lake Hospital

Eight new coronavirus cases were reported in Saskatchewan on Friday.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) also declared an outbreak at Meadow Lake Hospital over.

All the new cases are in the far north — five in La Loche and three in Beauval — raised the overall total in Saskatchewan to 590.

The region continues to have the majority of the active cases in the province at 147, just over 83 per cent of the provincial total of 176.

Other regions with active cases are the north (18), Saskatoon (9), Regina (1) and central (1).

Nine people are in hospital — six in Saskatoon, two in Regina and one in the north. Three people in Saskatoon are in intensive care.

Hospitalizations are attributed to the location of the hospital, not the patient’s residence, health officials said.

Six deaths have been reported due to COVID-19.

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Dr. Mandian​gu Nsungu, a SHA medical health officer, said he declared the outbreak at Meadow Lake Hospital over after no cases were discovered either in patients or health-care workers during the 10-day exposure period.

The outbreak was declared on May 5 after a health-care worker tested positive for the novel coronavirus. It was linked to community transmission.

The SHA said contact tracing started immediately and staff who had been in close contact with the health-care worker began self-isolating and were tested.

All tests came back negative, the SHA said.

Ten new recoveries were reported, bringing the number of recoveries to 408.

Here is a breakdown of total Saskatchewan cases by age:

• 83 people are 19 and under
• 209 people are 20 to 39
• 181 are 40 to 59
• 99 people are 60 to 79
• 18 people are 80 and over

Males make up 51 per cent of the cases, females 49 per cent.

Officials said 304 cases are linked to community contacts or mass gatherings, 139 are travel-related, 79 are under investigation by public health and 68 have no known exposure.

Saskatchewan has completed 39,233 tests so far for the virus, up 550 from Wednesday.

Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:

Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.

To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out.

For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.