Saskatchewan announced seven new positive tests for COVID-19 along with seven new recoveries in its daily update Tuesday.
The data brings Saskatchewan’s total number of confirmed cases to 260 and the total number of recovered cases to 88. Of the current cases, 169 are considered active, the same number as yesterday.
While the number of recovered patients rose Tuesday, so did the number of people in the hospital.
Seven residents were hospitalized Tuesday, an increase of three from Monday. Of those, five are receiving inpatient care — four in Saskatoon and one in Regina — while two patients are in intensive care, one in Saskatoon and one in Regina.
Three of the newly-detected COVID-19 cases were in travellers, three more are community contacts, including mass gatherings, and 13 have no known exposures. The number of unknown exposures fell by one case from the day prior. Two additional cases are under investigation by public health, bringing that number to 52.
Four additional cases were detected in Saskatoon, with one each coming in Regina, the northern region (which includes Prince Albert) and the far north.
In total, 131 of the cases are from the Saskatoon area, 52 from the Regina area, 48 from the north 15 from the south, 10 from the central region (excluding Saskatoon) and four from the far north.
Two more cases were detected in people 19 years of age or younger, bringing that total to 13. The remainder are adults.
The 20-44 age range represents the biggest number of cases at 112, followed by 92 in the 45-64 age range and 43 in the 65-plus age range.
Just over half — 53 per cent— of the cases are males, 47 per cent females.
There have been no additional COVID-19 deaths in the province. That total remains at three.
The province has conducted 14,722 COVID-19 tests, the second-highest rate of testing per capita among the provinces.
There is no COVID-19 briefing with provincial officials scheduled Tuesday.
The province is encouraging residents to celebrate Easter virtually.
“With the holiday long weekend approaching, be prepared to celebrate Easter in a different way this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the province wrote in a press release.
“Instead of inviting family and friends over for dinner, host a virtual gathering using digital technology.”
Other suggestions include restricting in-person Easter gatherings to only people living in the same home, purchasing Easter dinner groceries ahead of time and only sending one member of a household shopping. Preventative measures such as frequent hand washing and physical distancing should always be used.
