Four residents who tested positive for COVID-19 have died. One new death in the age group 80-plus was reported in the North West zone. One new death in the age group 70-79 was reported in the North West zone. Two new deaths in the age group 80-plus were reported in Regina.
There are 154 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan on Dec. 24, bringing the provincial total to date to 14,255 cases.
Three new cases are in the South East region. One of the new cases is in South East Zone 4, which includes Estevan. The other two new cases for the southeast are in Zone 1, which is in the northwest corner of the zone.
There are three active cases in Zone 4, which is the same number as on Dec. 23. One more person who resides in Zone 4 is now considered recovered.
Eighty-four cases in the South East are considered active. A total of 433 cases have been diagnosed in the southeast since mid-March.
The other new cases in Saskatchewan are located in the Far North West (10), Far North East (14), North West (17), North Central (28), North East (three), Saskatoon (30), Central West (2), Central East (10), Regina (25), South Central (three) and South East (three) zones. Nine new cases have pending residence information.
Of the cases, 3,346 out of the 14,255 cases are considered active.
Another 655 people are now considered recovered, bringing the provincial total to 10,775 recoveries. Twenty-eight recoveries are in the southeast region.
As of Dec. 23, 1,786 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine have been provided to health care workers in Regina as part of the initial pilot and Saskatoon as part of Phase 1.
The provincial dashboard reports that 125 people are in hospital. One hundred and four people are receiving inpatient care: two in the Far North West, four in the North West, 18 in the North Central, three in the North East, 40 in the Saskatoon, two in the Central West, four in the Central East, 25 in the Regina, two in the South West and four in the South East zones. The number of people hospitalized in the South East is unchanged from Dec. 23.
Twenty-one people are in intensive care: one in the North West, six in the North Central, ten in the Saskatoon, three in the Regina and one in the South West zones.
The seven-day average of daily new cases is 203 (16.7 new cases per 100,000 population) and is now available on the Government of Saskatchewan website.
With Saskatchewan updating definitions of the COVID-19 infectious period to align with national definitions, the COVID-19 data set correction resulted in the number of individuals hospitalized due to COVID-19 being under-reported in the daily provincial report.
As of December 22, 2020, there were an additional 40 COVID-19 patients in hospital, including nine in ICU, who have been receiving care, resulting in the reported case number of 165.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority is working on a process to ensure these numbers are included in the daily case reports. The provincial dashboard will have a notation added while this process is finalized.
These are not new hospitalizations. These are patients no longer infectious for COVID-19, which had shifted them from active to recovered cases, but still experiencing the complications of COVID-19 illness. Validation processes are in place to report a complete census of patients in hospital, including ICU, due to COVID-19. The Ministry of Health is currently reviewing how these cases are reported in other Canadian jurisdictions.
Of the 14,255 cases in the province, 608 cases are travelers, 6,942 are community contacts (including mass gatherings), 3,293 have no known exposures; and 3,412 are under investigation by local public health.
Overall in Saskatchewan, 620 cases are healthcare workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to healthcare in all instances.
A total of 3,067 cases involve people 19 years of age and under; 5,052 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 3,668 are in the 40-59 age range; 1,849 are in the 60-79 age range; and 614 are in the 80-plus range. Confirmation of age is pending for five cases.
Fifty per cent of the cases are female and 50 per cent are male.
A total of 134 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.
Of 14,255 confirmed cases:
- 4,086 cases are from the Saskatoon area;
- 3,366 cases are from the north area (1,323 north west, 1,574 north central, 469 north east);
- 2,814 cases are from the Regina area;
- 1,515 cases are from the south area (554 south west, 528 south central, 433 south east);
- 1,543 cases are from the far north area (867 far north west, 106 far north central, 570 far north east); and
- 884 cases are from the central area (333 central west, 551 central east)
- Forty-seven cases have pending residence information
To date, 415,541 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan. As of Dec. 22, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 252,000 people tested per million population.
The national rate was 354,978 people tested per million population.
A total of 2,394 COVID-19 tests were processed in Saskatchewan on Dec. 23, including 75 from the southeast region. A total of 21, 729 tests have been performed in the southeast since mid-March.
