Saskatchewan reports 1 new coronavirus case, lowest single-day increase in weeks

Health officials in Saskatchewan reported one new case of novel coronavirus on Saturday, the lowest single-day increase in nearly three weeks.

The new case is in Saskatoon, bringing the province’s total cases to 591.

The last time Saskatchewan saw a single-day increase this low was on April 28, when just one new COVID-19 case was confirmed.

The province also reported 25 new recoveries on Saturday, bringing the provincial total to 433. This is the highest single-day increase in recoveries since the first case was reported in the province on March 19.

The last time Saskatchewan saw this many recoveries in a 24-hour period was on April 10, when 21 recoveries were reported by health officials.

Eight people are in the hospital, five of whom are receiving inpatient care (one in the north, two in Saskatoon and two in Regina). Three people are in the ICU in Saskatoon.

Saskatchewan has 152 active cases, with over 83 per cent of them being in the far north, which has 127 active cases.

There are 13 active cases in the north, making up eight per cent of the total, and 10 active cases, or 6.5 per cent, in Saskatoon.

There is one active case in Regina, and one active case in central Saskatchewan. No active cases are reported in southern Saskatchewan.

Here’s a breakdown of how people contracted the virus:

• 139 cases are travel-related
• 320 are a result of community contacts or mass gatherings
• 68 cases have no known exposure
• 64 remain under investigation by public health

There are 48 cases involving health-care workers,  but the source of the infections may not be related to a health-care setting, say officials.

The far north remains the epicentre of COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan with 218 cases reported in the area. There are 164 cases in Saskatoon, 106 cases in the north, 76 cases in Regina, 15 cases from the south and 12 cases from the central region.

Here’s a breakdown of cases by age:

• 19 years of age or younger: 83 cases or 14 per cent
• 20 to 39: 209 cases or 35.3 per cent
• 40 to 59: 182 or 30.7 per cent
• 60-79: 99 cases or 16.75 per cent
• 80 and older: 18 or three per cent
• 49 per cent of cases are females, 51 per cent are males

Saskatchewan’s death toll from COVID-19 remains at six.

To date, 40,097 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province.

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.