Saskatchewan's Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab. (Canadian Press)

By paNOW Staff

COVID-19

One death, 12 new COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan’s North

Apr 27, 2020 | 2:18 PM

All 12 new cases of COVID-19 are in the northern half of the province, including the province’s fifth death.

The deceased was in their 80s and resided in the Far North region of the province.

As of today, there are 12 new cases of COVID-19 in the province, bringing the total infected amount to 365. Of those cases, 11 are in the Far North and one is in the North region.

The active case total across the province is 72 and there are 288 recoveries.

There are seven people in hospitals across the province. Five are receiving inpatient care. There are two patients in intensive care.

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The latest COVID-19 numbers in Saskatchewan. (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff)

Of the 365 cases, 139 are travellers, 149 are contacts or are linked to mass gatherings, 35 have no known exposures and 42 are under investigation.

Across the province, 38 cases are health care workers, although the source of the infections for all may not be related to work. There are 150 cases in the Saskatoon area, 74 from the Regina area, 69 from the North, 15 from the South, 11 from the central region and 46 from the Far North.

Of the Far North cases, 29 are in La Loche. According to the province, all those cases are connected to the outbreak at the oil sands camp in northern Alberta.

Dr. Rim Zayed said the SHA has a plan to increase testing in La Loche which will include increasing supplies to the community continuing with drive-thru testing.

“Expansion of the number of mobile testing sites will also occur which will support homes testing that we are already implementing for people who do not have the ability to attend a testing site,” he said.

Zayed says GenXpert testing machine has also been deployed to the community and will be operational on May 1.

“This will make the turnaround time on lab results really very quick, on the same day,” he said.

Zayed said around 30 COVID-19 tests per day are currently being performed in La Loche.

In addition to all the cases in La Loche, there are nine in the surrounding area, Zayed said. Two cases in La Loche are health care workers and two others are long term care home residents.

“This again shows how quickly COVID can transmit,” said Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab. “One or two people can generate two or three additional cases in a week that can generate two or three additional cases which is nine.”

He said this underscores the need for physical distancing.

There is a public health order in effect restricting all non-essential travel into and out of northern Saskatchewan — specifically the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District. Shahab has also strongly recommended against non-essential travel between communities within northern Saskatchewan.

Case total as of April 27. (submitted photo/SHA)

There are 30 cases involving people under the age of 19. The remainder are adults.

In the 20 to 39 age range, there are 132 cases, 124 in the 40 to 59 age range, 68 are in the 60 to 79 age range and 11 in the 80-plus range.

Of the cases, 51 per cent are males and 49 per cent are females.

To date, 28,296 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province.

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panews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow