Premier Scott Moe announced on Monday the province has recorded the fifth death due to COVID-19, along with 11 new cases of the virus due to the outbreak in La Loche.
The fifth death from the virus is a resident in their 80s from the far north region.
Moe said the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) has begun aggressive testing and contract tracing in northern Saskatchewan. He added the volume of testing supplies and the number of samples that are being transported are being increased.
Additionally, Moe said La Loche will also see increased mobile and drive-thru testing as well as additional in-home testing in La Loche.
Chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said as the province records another fatality, it underscores again the continuing vigilance to remain steadfast in order to observe all necessary precautions to prevent further transmission.
“This is especially important as we plan to reopen certain services in the coming weeks,” said Shahab.
“While the weather is very nice, and it is nice to see people out and about, it is important we practise social distancing unless we are in the household,” he added.
Shahab said the outbreak in northern Saskatchewan due to travel from Alberta shows how quickly the virus can transmit.
“Within two to three weeks you can get into dozens of cases and within five or six weeks you can get into hundreds of cases,” said Shahab.
“It is really important for us to continue to observe physical distancing all of the time,” he added.
Moe said with continued success in keeping the curve flat, residents can begin to expand their households with great care, ensuring every one is adhering to physical distancing measures.
“We should have the opportunity to very carefully and cautiously start to see some people that we maybe haven’t seen for some time,” said Moe.
“The fact of the matter is, we just need to be careful with respect to physical distancing. We need to be careful with respect to how many people we are seeing over the course of a week or two,” he added.
Currently in the La Loche area there are about 30 tests a day being performed daily. Twenty-nine cases are travel related with 26 being related to northern Alberta. Additionally, two cases are in long-term care and two are healthcare workers.
To date, Saskatchewan has 365 cases of COVID-19. Of the 365 cases, 72 are considered active and 288 have recovered.
