Sask. shatters single-day record with 308 new COVID-19 cases

A staff member at the Regina drive-through testing station swabs a woman for COVID-19. (Jeremy Simes/CTV Regina)

REGINA — Saskatchewan reported 308 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, shattering its previous single-day increase record.

The spike brings the province’s total active cases to 1,691. Saskatchewan's previous high of 190 new cases was recorded on Nov. 9.

The province attributed the rise partly to snowstorms earlier this week, resulting in fewer people going for testing and some delays in getting samples from remote locations to the provincial labs.

In a release, the province said 26 new cases are in the far northwest zone, eight are in the far north central zone, 16 are in the far northeast zone, 23 are in the northwest zone, 30 are in the north central zone, 30 are in the northeast zone, 123 are in Saskatoon, seven are in the central west zone, seven are in the central east zone, 20 are in Regina, two are in the southwest zone, three are in the south central zone and three are in the southeast zone.

“Although we expect to see higher and lower case numbers daily which will average out, there is an upward trend in positive case numbers,” the release said.

Ten cases are currently pending residence information.

“Today’s record high case numbers are a reminder that the spread of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan is higher now than it has even been throughout Saskatchewan including urban, rural, Northern and First Nations areas and that we all need to redouble our efforts to protect ourselves and others,” Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer, said in the release.

“Wear a mask, limit your number of personal contacts, limit your number of visitors from outside your household, don’t leave home if you are feeling sick, and make sure you’re always physically distancing and washing your hands often. We all need to do our part to limit the spread.”

A total of 57 people are in hospital related to COVID-19. Forty-one people are receiving inpatient care, including one in the far northwest, one in the far northeast, four in the northwest, four in the north central, four in the northeast, 22 in Saskatoon, one in Regina, one in the southwest and three in the southeast.

Another 16 people are in intensive care; one in the northwest, three in the north central zone, eight in Saskatoon, two in the central east and two in Regina.

REGIONALLY

Another 43 recoveries were reported on Saturday. A total of 3,100 people have recovered.

On Friday, 3,665 COVID-19 tests were processed in Saskatchewan. That is the highest test count in one 24-hour reporting period yet.