34 cases of COVID-19 reported in North Central on Friday

(Saskatchewan Health Authority/Submitted)

There were 264 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Friday in Saskatchewan. The North Central zone, which includes Prince Albert, reported an additional 34 cases.

It is anticipated that the number of cases designated as “active” will decline as older cases are reviewed and potentially shifted to recovered status.  This work is ongoing, the province said.

Two cases with pending residence information were assigned to the Far North East and North Central zones on Friday.

The current seven-day average is 282, or 23.3 cases per 100,000 population.

North Central 2, which is Prince Albert, has 339 active cases.

North Central 1, which includes communities such as Christopher Lake, Candle Lake and Meath Park, has 249 active cases and North Central 3 has 57 active cases.

The North Central zone is third in the Active Case Breakdown with 645 active cases.

The Saskatoon zone leads the Active Case breakdown with 1,320 cases.

In second place is Regina with 1,043 active cases.

Of the 11,475 reported COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan, 4,547 are considered active.

Of the 133 people in hospital in the province, 106 are receiving in patient care including 16 in the North Central. Of the 27 in intensive care six are in the North Central.

The recovered number now sits at 6,853 after 387 more recoveries were reported. The total numbers of cases since the beginning of the pandemic is 11,475 of those 2,417 cases are from the north area (881 north west, 1,165 north central and 371 north east).

Yesterday, 3,497 COVID-19 tests were processed.

As of today there have been 379,378 COVID-19 tests performed in Saskatchewan. 

Northern health officials advise against non-essential travel outside region

On Friday the office of the northern Medical Health Officers for the Saskatchewan Health Authority, the Athabasca Health Authority and the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority announced that they are advising all northern residents to avoid travel outside their communities unless it is for essential services. 

“This strong recommendation has been prompted by increasing COVID-19 case numbers in the north, many of which are linked to travel outside the north – to areas in the south, and out-of-province,” the release said.

Regional Medical Health Officers are specifically advising against all non-essential travel outside the Northern Saskatchewan Administrative District effective immediately and until further notice and that travel between communities within the Northern Saskatchewan Administrative District be limited to only that for essential services, effective immediately and until further notice.

Examples of esse​ntial services can be found on the Critical Public Services list available on the Government of Saskatchewan website. The advisory is an evidence-based recommendation by the regional Medical Health Officers, and not a restriction under the current Chief Medical Health Officer’s Provincial Public Health Order.

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