There are 66 new cases of COVID-19 to report in Saskatchewan on Oct. 19, bringing the total to 2,396 cases.
Twenty-five new cases are in the Saskatoon region, and 17 are in the north central. Eight are in the Regina region, four are in the northwest, three are in each of the far northwest and far northeast, two are in each of the central west and central east, and single cases are in the northeast and southwest zones.
Public health investigations are underway to determine the source of transmission for all new cases. Saskatoon’s cases are primarily linked with outbreaks at local bars and nightclubs, and additional cases are expected to be reported in the coming days.
The gospel worship event in Prince Albert has been connected to 86 first and second generation cases in 17 different communities in the province. Many of the newer cases and outbreaks arising in the north are now third generation cases from this event. Public health’s contact investigation is an estimated 450 contacts.
Of the 2,369 reported cases, 398, or 16.8 per cent, are considered active.
Ten more people have recovered, bringing the Saskatchewan total to 1,973 recoveries, or 82.3 per cent of those diagnosed.
Eighteen people are in hospital. Sixteen people are receiving inpatient care; seven in the Saskatoon zone, five in the north central zone, two in the Regina region, one in the central east region and one in the southeast region. Two people are in intensive care, one in Saskatoon and one in Regina.
There have been 471 cases from the south area (227 southwest, 209 south central and 35 southeast). Twelve cases in the southeast are considered active; 11 of them are in Zone 4, which includes Estevan.
The southeast region has now had fewer cases than any other region in the province, except for the sparsely popular far north central region, which has not had a case.
As for the rest of the province, 505 cases are from the Saskatoon area, 410 cases are from the far north area (369 far northwest, 41 far northeast), 406 cases are from the north area (149 northwest, 173 north central, 84 northeast), 336 cases are from the central area (193 central west, 143 central east) and 266 cases are from the Regina area.
Two cases have pending residence location.
Of the 2,396 cases in the province to date, 326 cases are travellers, 1,160 are community contacts (including mass gatherings), 647 have no known exposures and 263 are under investigation by local public health.
Eighty-one cases are healthcare workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to healthcare in all instances.
A total of 431 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, 831 cases are in the 20-39 age range, 705 are in the 40-59 age range, 353 are in the 60-79 age range and 76 are in the 80-plus range.
Fifty-one per cent of the cases are females and 49 per cent are males.
25 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported.
To date, 233,017 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Saskatchewan. As of Oct. 17, when other provincial and national numbers are available from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 159,870 people tested per million population. The national rate was 231,415 people tested per million population.
There were 2,288 COVID-19 tests performed in Saskatchewan on Sunday.
