REGINA -- The province has announced 259 new cases of COVID-19 and one more death.

In a news release on Thursday, the government said the person who died had tested positive for COVID-19 and was 80 years or older. They lived in the south zone.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 269, or 22.2 new cases per 100,000 people.

There are 128 people in hospital, with 104 people receiving inpatient care and 24 people in intensive care.

 

There are 112 new cases in the Regina area and 50 in the Saskatoon area.

As for other regions, there are:

  • Nine in the far northwest.
  • One in the far northeast.
  • 21 in the northwest.
  • 20 in the north central.
  • Two in the northeast.
  • Three in the central west.
  • Three in the central east.
  • 21 in the southwest.
  • 20 in the south central.
  • Six in the southeast.
  • One case has pending residence information.

Two cases with pending residence information have been assigned to the northwest and two to the north central.

Three Saskatchewan residents tested out-of-province were added to the northwest zone.

 

Since the pandemic began, there have been 9,244 cases and 5,173 recoveries. Active cases sit at 4,017.

Of the people in inpatient care, one is in the far northwest, eight in the northwest, nine in the north central, one in the northeast, 41 in the Saskatoon area, two in the central east, 20 in the Regina area, two in the southwest and 20 in the southeast zone.

Of the people in intensive care, one is in the northwest, three in the north central, 11 in Saskatoon and nine in Regina.

On Wednesday, 3,247 COVID-19 tests were processed in Saskatchewan.

SHA CEO Scott Livingstone will provide a COVID-19 update at 3 p.m. on Thursday. This event will be streamed live at CTVNewsRegina.ca and CTVNewsSaskatoon.ca

SHAHAB DISCOURAGING INTER-PROVINCIAL TRAVEL

Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer is urging people to be cautious and discouraging inter-provincial travel, as the province heads into the holiday season during a pandemic.

“My recommendation at this time is actually that we need to have a very quiet Christmas,” Dr. Saqib Shahab said.

The province’s top doctor is asking families to limit gatherings to their immediate household. Inter-provincial travel is also not recommended, unless essential.

“Many families are already making those plans not to travel inter-provincially unless absolutely essential,” Shahab said.

Shahab said it’s too early to say whether it will be safe for even one or two households to get together during the holidays.

 

SASK. VACCINE DISTRIBUTION PLAN TO BE PRESENTED NEXT WEEK

Merriman said the SHA is expected to present its vaccine delivery plan sometime next week.

The Health Minister said the province is ready for the vaccine, as soon as the federal government is able to distribute it.

“We do not yet have an exact timeline on when we will be receiving these vaccines. The federal government is now saying the first deliveries will be early in the New Year,” Merriman said.

He added that Saskatchewan’s expected share of the first batch of Canadian vaccine doses remains around 180,000, which is enough to vaccinate 90,000 people. Merriman said that number could go up, as more companies apply for vaccine approval.