Sask. reports 4 more COVID-19 deaths, 181 new cases

Colourized scanning electron micrograph of a cell (purple) heavily infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (yellow). (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health)

REGINA — Four more Saskatchewan people have died after testing positive for COVID-19, bringing the province’s death toll above 50.

The Government of Saskatchewan said three of the people are from the Saskatoon zone and one is from the south zone. Three individuals were in the 80-plus age category while the other, from Saskatoon, was in the 60-79 age range. Saskatchewan has now seen 51 deaths related to COVID-19.

Another 181 new COVID-19 cases were also reported on Tuesday, with 3,819 total cases considered active.

In a release, the province said 12 new cases are in the far northwest zone, 15 are in the far northeast zone, 10 are in the northwest zone, eight are in the north central zone, one is in the northeast zone, 41 are from Saskatoon, three are from the central west zone, two are from the central east, 67 are from the Regina zone, five are from the southwest zone, four are from the south central zone and seven are from the southeast zone.

Six new cases are pending residence information. Three cases pending residence information were assigned, including two in the northwest and one in the central east.

Saskatchewan’s seven-day average for new cases is 264, or 21.8 new cases per 100,000 population.

Recoveries outpaced new cases on Tuesday, with 237 cases reported recovered.

The province has 121 people in hospital related to COVID-19, including 97 people in inpatient care and 24 in intensive care.

REGIONALLY

On Monday, 2,431 COVID-19 tests were processed in the province.

PAID COVID-19 TESTING AVAILABLE FOR ASYMPTOMATIC PEOPLE

User-pay COVID-19 testing will be available this month to Saskatchewan people without symptoms, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) says.

An agreement between the SHA and Quantum Genetix would see the company collecting and processing test specimens for asymptomatic people. All patient information collected would go to the SHA.

Positive tests will be forwarded to the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory for confirmation and verification.

“Given the high demand for testing and the focus on prioritizing testing for people with symptoms before people or travelers without symptoms, it’s been challenging to provide timely results for asymptomatic travelers,” Lenore Howey, Saskatchewan Health Authority executive director, laboratory medicine, said in a news release.

NOVEMBER BRING WORST MONTH OF PANDEMIC FOR SASK.

When the calendar turned over to November, Saskatchewan had seen 3,144 COVID-19 cases and 25 people had died from the virus.

In the 30 days since, Saskatchewan numbers have spiked with the province recording 5,421 new cases in November and 22 deaths, including 10 in the last five days.

Saskatchewan had set new record highs for active cases 26 times in November. There are 3,879 cases considered active as of Monday.

The province has topped its single day case record five times during the month, with all of the top-ten highest single day case increase happening over the last 30 days.

The situation isn’t improving, either. Three of the top five largest single day increases have come in the past four days, with 873 new cases since Friday.

Hospitalizations have also been growing.