5 more Sask. COVID-19 cases; all new cases in far north

People concerned with COVID-19 testing stigma WATCH: There are concerns some people may not be getting the COVID-19 test due to stigma attached to the virus. Marc Smith explains.

REGINA — Saskatchewan is reporting five new COVID-19 cases and 11 new recoveries as of Tuesday.

All of the new cases are in the far north. Three are in the Beauval area and two are in La Loche.

The province now has a total of 573 cases. Of those cases, 193 are considered active.

The province has also reported 374 recoveries to date.

The far north continues to have the most cases in the province. The area has 202 total cases; 151 of those cases are considered active.

The north region has 29 active cases, Saskatoon has 12 active cases and the central region has one case.

Regina is now reporting no active cases, along with the south region.

There are currently 11 people in hospital, including three in the ICU.

There have been a total of 163 cases in Saskatoon, 105 cases in the north, 76 cases in Regina, 15 in the south and 12 in the central region.

The province says 139 cases are related to travel, 295 are from community contacts, 64 have no known exposure and 75 are under investigation.

The ages break down into 79 cases under the age of 19, 201 cases between 20 and 39, 178 between 40 and 59, 98 between 60 and 79 and 17 over the age of 80. The cases are half men and half women.

So far, six people have died from COVID-19 complications in Saskatchewan.

To date, the province has performed 37,695 COVID-19 tests.

Stigma in small communities

SHA officials say that community members have expressed concern over stigma related to COVID-19 in smaller communities. Some expressed not wanting to get tested for fear of being identified as having COVID-19.

Officials say they want to reinforce the importance of testing and encourage all with symptoms to quickly seek testing services.