One more Sask. COVID-19 death reported, 283 new cases

REGINA — A person from the south zone has died after testing positive for COVID-19, marking the province’s 55th death related to the virus.

The person was in the 80-plus age range.

The province also reported 283 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing Saskatchewan’s active case count to 4,116.

The government said there are nine new cases are in the far northwest zone, 11 in the far northeast zone, 12 in the northwest zone, 47 in the north central zone, seven in the northeast, 50 in Saskatoon, seven in the central west zone, nine in the central east zone, 83 in Regina, 12 in the southwest, nine in the south central zone, and nine in the southeast zone.

A total of 18 new cases are pending residence information. Two cases pending location have been assigned to the northwest zone.

The seven-day average for new cases is 262, or 21.7 per 100,000 population.

An additional 183 people were reported recovered.

As of Friday, 126 people are in hospital related to COVID-19, including 101 people in inpatient care and 25 in intensive care.

REGIONALLY

On Thursday, 3,504 COVID-19 tests were processed in the province.

SASK. MOVES INTO NEXT PHASE OF SURGE PLAN

The Saskatchewan Health Authority announced it will launch the next phase of its COVID-19 surge plan, in order to manage the anticipate surge in patients over the next few weeks.

Following the announcement of 259 new cases on Thursday, the province said recent high case numbers contributed to the choice to activate the next phase of the surge plan.

The next phase includes a slow-down of some health services to manage the redeployment of around 600 full time staff.