Saskatoon reaches 500 active COVID-19 cases after Saturday spike

Saskatoon — Saskatoon added 123 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the city’s active case count to 500.

Saskatchewan set a new record on Saturday, reporting 308 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total of active cases to 1,691 in the province.

Saskatoon has 30 people in hospital related to COVID-19, including 22 in inpatient care and eight in intensive care.

The far north west has 26 new cases, there are eight in the far north central, 16 in the far north east, 23 in the north west, 30 in both the north central and north east, and seven in both the central west and central east.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority said the spike in cases is a result of the snowstorm earlier in the week, which caused fewer people to go to testing, and delayed getting some samples from remote locations to provincial labs.

With cases continuing to rise, Saskatchewan’s Chief Medial Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab is reminding people to get back to the basics.

“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,” he said. “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.”