Saskatchewan health officials said the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory experienced technical difficulties Tuesday with the validation of coronavirus tests, which resulted in “lower-than-expected” case numbers Wednesday.
They said it’s anticipated that any delayed reporting will be reflected in Thursday’s case number update.
Officials said there were 37 new cases in the daily update on Wednesday, with the overall total for the province growing to 3,408 since the first case was reported in March. They added two cases were determined to be out-of-province residents and removed from Saskatchewan’s counts.
According to a press release, 1,101 COVID-19 tests were performed on Tuesday in Saskatchewan. To date, 271,198 tests have been carried out in the province.
Officials said most of the new cases are located in the Regina zone with 14, while there are 13 in Saskatoon, six in central east and one each in far north west, north west and north central. One case reported Wednesday has a pending residence location.
In the province, 26 people are currently in hospital with COVID-19 — 22 are receiving inpatient care and four are receiving intensive care.
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Seventy-eight more people have recovered, bringing total recoveries to 2,584.
There are currently 799 active cases in the province, health officials said. Active cases are total cases less recoveries and deaths.
There have been 25 COVID-19-related deaths in Saskatchewan.
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. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. In some provinces and municipalities across the country, masks or face coverings are now mandatory in indoor public spaces.
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