COVID-19 hospitalizations reach new high as Saskatchewan adds 2 deaths

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations reached new heights as Saskatchewan added two deaths on Monday.

Saskatchewan’s hospitals are currently providing care for 289 patients with COVID-19: 226 are receiving inpatient care and 63 are in intensive care units. This is the most hospitalizations and ICU patients to date.

The recently deceased who tested positive for the virus were in the 60-to-79 and 80-plus age groups. There have been 672 COVID-19-related deaths in the province.

According to the provincial government’s dashboard, there were 398 new cases, bringing the overall infection total in Saskatchewan to 65,897.

The seven-day average of new daily infections decreased to 461 from 478 on Sept. 26.

Saskatchewan’s active infections have decreased and now sit at 4,788. The Saskatoon zone leads the province with 1,171.

The number of recoveries from the virus has grown by 470 to a total of 60,437.

According to the dashboard, 3,779 COVID-19 tests were performed on Sept. 26. To date, 1,121,821 tests have been carried out in the province.

A total of 1,548,690 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Saskatchewan, the dashboard showed. Of Monday’s 398 new cases, the provincial government said 333 individuals were unvaccinated, which included 87 children under the age of 12.

1:32 QR codes temporarily removed from Sask. COVID-19 vaccine records due to ‘privacy breach’

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.

For full COVID-19 coverage, visit the Global News coronavirus web page.