REGINA -- Four more Saskatchewan residents who tested positive for COVID-19 have died.

This includes three people in the 80-plus age group from the north central zone, south east zone and Regina, and one person in their 70s from the south central zone.

The province also reported 329 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing Saskatchewan active case total to 3,263.

In a release, the government said there are eight new cases in the far northwest zone, four in the far northeast zone, 23 in the northwest zone, 21 in the north central zone, one in the north east, 158 in Saskatoon, six in the central west zone, 11 from the central east, 61 in Regina, 16 in the southwest zone, one in the south central zone and 14 in the southeast zone.

 

Five new cases are pending residence information. Four cases pending location have been assigned to the north central zone.

The province’s seven-day average of daily new cases is 268, or 22.1 new cases per 100,000 population.

A total of 111 people are in hospital related to COVID-19, including 95 in inpatient care and 16 in intensive care.

Another 208 people were reported recovered from the disease on Friday.

 

REGIONALLY

  • 328 active cases are from the far north area (123 far northwest, 69 far north central, 136 far northeast)
  • 731 active cases are from the north area (269 northwest, 366 north central, 96 northeast)
  • 1,057 active cases are from the Saskatoon area
  • 605 active cases are from the Regina area
  • 139 active cases are from the central area (57 central west, 82 central east)
  • 376 active cases are from the south area (97 southwest, 119 south central, 160 southeast)
 

A total of 3,687 COVID-19 tests were process in Saskatchewan on Friday.

SASK. HEALTH ESCALATES RESPONSE AS ICU CAPACITY NEARS 100%

The move comes after the SHA reported a five-fold growth in COVID-19 cases in ICUs over the last thirty days, causing capacity to reach nearly 100 per cent.

The health authority said pressure points in Saskatoon as of Thursday are leaving only three available ICU beds in the city.

The SHA needs to create about 200 more beds for COVID-19 patients than what currently exists in all hospitals outside of Saskatoon and Regina.

As for contact tracing, the agency said it needs to add staff to enable effective tracing for 450 cases per day and possibly more.

It said 450 cases per day would create 72 thousand hours of work for contact tracers over a two-week time span, or an average of more than five thousand hours per day.