There are 78 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan on Oct. 24, bringing the total to 2,669 cases. It’s a new single-day record for Saskatchewan.
One new case is from the southeast. The case is from Southeast Zone 4, which includes Estevan.
There are 18 active cases in the southeast region; 16 of them are from Zone 4.
As for the rest of the new cases, 33 are from the Saskatoon region, 21 are from the Regina region, 11 are from the north central, three are from each of the far northwest, northeast and central east regions; two are from the northwest; and a single case is from the far northeast.
Public health investigations are underway to determine the source of transmission for all new cases. Of the 2,669 reported cases, 574, or 21.5 per cent, are considered active.
Fifteen people have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 2,070, or 77.6 per cent of those diagnosed.
To date, community transmission in Saskatoon is largely due to after-work socializing among young adults. Forty-seven cases have been linked to the Longbranch Bar outbreak, 22 cases to Diva’s nightclub and seven cases to Outlaws Country Rock Bar.
Transmission in Regina generally appears to be a result of close family contacts with known cases, rather than public social activities.
Twenty-one people are in hospital. Seventeen people are receiving inpatient care; eight in the Saskatoon zone, eight in the north zone and one in Regina. Four people are in intensive care; three in Saskatoon and one in Regina.
There have been 481 cases from the south area (228 southwest, 211 south central, 42 southeast). The southeast has the fewest cases of any region in the province, other than the sparsely populated far north central region, which has yet to record a case.
As for the rest of the province, 596 cases are from the Saskatoon area, 492 cases are from the north area (164 northwest, 223 north central, 105 northeast), 429 cases are from the far north area (378 far northwest, 51 far northeast), 355 cases are from the central area (196 central west, 159 central east) and 314 cases are from the Regina area.
Two cases have a pending residence location.
Of the 2,669 cases in the province, 342 cases are travellers, 1,331 are community contacts (including mass gatherings), 694 have no known exposures and 302 are under investigation by local public health.
Eighty-four cases are healthcare workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to healthcare in all instances.
A total of 507 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, 942 cases are in the 20-39 age range, 770 are in the 40-59 age range, 372 are in the 60-79 age range and 78 are in the 80-plus range.
Fifty-one per cent of the cases are females and 49 per cent are males.
Twenty-five deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported.
To date, 245,292 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Saskatchewan. As of Oct. 22, when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 166,515 people tested per million population. The national rate was 252,120 people tested per million population.
There were 2,792 COVID-19 tests performed in Saskatchewan on Friday.
