Saskatchewan has five new confirmed cases of COVID-19, the Ministry of Health said Thursday, bringing the provincial total to 582.
Four of the new cases are in the far north (the La Loche area) and one is in the Regina region.
Of the 582 reported cases, 178, or about 31 per cent, are considered active. Thirteen more people have recovered, bringing the provincial total to 398.
About 67 per cent of people diagnosed with COVID-19 in Saskatchewan have recovered.
There are currently 10 people in hospital – seven are receiving inpatient care (three in the north, three in Saskatoon and one in Regina) and three are in intensive care (all in Saskatoon).
Fifteen of the cases are in southern Saskatchewan; that number hasn’t changed since early April. There are 210 cases from the far north, 163 from the Saskatoon area, 106 from the north, 76 from the Regina area and 12 from the Central region.
Of the 582 cases in the province, 139 cases are travellers, 302 are community contacts (including mass gatherings), 67 have no known exposures and 76 are under investigation by local public health.
Forty-eight cases are health care workers. The source of the infections may not be related to health care in all instances.
Eighty-one cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults. A total of 205 cases are in the 20-39 age range, 180 are in the 40-59 age range, 98 are in the 60-79 age range and 18 are in the 80-plus range.
Fifty-one per cent of the cases are males and 49 per cent are females.
Six deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.
To date, 38,728 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of May 12, when other provincial and national numbers were available from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 29,962 people tested per million population, which is below the national rate of 31,111 people tested per million population.
The Ministry of Health says this is due to decreased demand for testing, not a drop in testing capacity, due to the success of preventative measures and the reduction in positive cases in many areas of the province.
