Saskatchewan reported 15 new cases of COVID-19 in the province on Sunday.

New positive tests are spread around the province with five cases in Regina, one each in the North west, Saskatoon and Central and three in the South West and South Central zones. One case has a residence confirmation pending.

Three cases, one reported on July 22 and two reported on August 7, are individuals who live outside the province. These three cases have been removed from Saskatchewan’s case count and moved to those individual’s home provinces as per guidance from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Of the 1,445 reported COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan, 168 are considered active which is the same number reported on Saturday.

The number of deaths from COVID-19 remains at 20 in the province.

The recovered number now sits at 1,257 and increase of two from Saturday.

According to the new and Active Case breakdown, Prince Albert—the North Central 2 zone—currently has no active cases.

North Central 1, which includes communities such as Christopher Lake, Candle Lake and Meath Park, has four active cases. North Central 3, consisting of communities south of the city, has no active cases. All of these numbers are the same as in yesterday’s report.

There are 13 people in hospital with illnesses related to COVID-19.

Seven individuals are receiving inpatient care in the hospital; three in Saskatoon, two in the South West region, one in South Central and one in Regina.

Seven people are receiving inpatient care; three in Saskatoon, one in Regina, two in the South West region and one in South Central. Six people are in intensive care; four in Saskatoon, one in the North Central region and one in the South West.

Six people, four in Saskatoon and one each in the North Central and South West zones, are listed in intensive care.

The total number of cases is 1,445. Of those 352 cases are from the far north area (346 far north west, zero in far north central, 6 far north east), 329 cases are from the south area (156 south west, 162 south central, 11 south east), 231 cases are from the north area (100 north west, 66 north central, 65 north east), 224 cases are from the Saskatoon area, 190 cases are from the central area (160 central west, 30 central east) and 118 cases are from the Regina area.

There are currently 64 cases who are health care workers; however, the source of the infections is not related to their work environments in all instances.

Of the 1,445 cases in the province: 206 cases are related to travel, 720 are community contacts, which includes mass gatherings, 389 have no known exposures and 140 are under investigation by local public health.

The age breakdown shows 229 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, 458 cases are in the 20-39 age range, 456 are in the 40-59 age range, 248 are in the 60-79 age range and 54 are in the 80-plus range.

The gender breakdown shows 50 per cent of the cases being females and 50 per cent being males.

As of August 9, 111,748 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province an increase of 1,945 over yesterday.

As of August 7 when other provincial and national numbers were available from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 80,706 people tested per million population. The national rate was 117,162 people tested per million population.

SHA alerts of possible COVID-19 transmissions in Saskatoon and Regina

Over the last few days, the Saskatchewan Health Authority has issued several precautionary advisories for Regina and Saskatoon. The SHA are urging Saskatchewan residents to follow public health measures and personal safety precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, including physical distancing of two metres, frequent hand hygiene and self-isolating if individuals develop any symptoms of COVID-19.

Although the risk of transmission to the general public is presently considered low, they are advising members of the public who visited the following locations to self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 for 14 days from the last date they visited the businesses. August 7– Regina Superstore Albert Street South – Golden Mile, approximately 7:30 – 8 p.m., August 5– Walmart Grasslands location from approximately 11:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m., August 1 – August 2 from approximately 10:30 p.m. – 2:30 a.m. at Diva’s Nightclub in Saskatoon and August 5 – Superstore – North location on Rochdale Blvd in Regina from approximately 6 – 7 p.m.

They advised that everyone should continue to take measures to stop the spread of COVID-19, including: practice proper cough and sneezing etiquette (into a tissue or the bend of your elbow); Wash your hands often with soap and water; if soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer; avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth;stay home if you are sick and practice physical distancing.

“You should always be aware of who you have been in contact with over the past two weeks. If you test positive for COVID-19, these are the people who will need to be contacted by public health,” the SHA said in their release.

“If health officials are uncertain that they have identified all known close contacts, they may take further action to notify the community about possible locations where individuals with COVID-19 may have attended while infectious,” the SHA said.