REGINA -- The Saskatchewan government reported on Monday 48 new cases of COVID-19.
Public health is working to figure out the source of the exposures, but said there has been an increase in cases linked to public and private social gatherings in the home and other venues, according to a news release.
The province said it’s expected that several of these new cases are also linked to the Gospel Outreach outbreak in Prince Albert.
Twelve northern cases reported on Sunday had links to the Gospel Outreach outbreak, it said.
There is one new case located in the far north west, three in the north west, 19 in the north central, one in the north east, 13 in the Saskatoon area, one in the central west, three in the central east, one in the south west, one in the south east and five in the Regina area.
The government said eight people are in hospital. Seven people are receiving inpatient care: five in Saskatoon and two in Regina. One person is in intensive care in Regina.
The province reported 12 new recoveries on Monday. Since Saturday, there have been 106 new COVID-19 cases.
There are 215 cases considered active. Since the pandemic began, there have been 2,140 cases, 1,900 recoveries and 25 deaths.
According to the news release, Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said he continues to call for vigilance and extreme caution for any social gathering in homes that includes anyone outside extended households.
He is also strongly recommending masks be worn in all indoor public locations where physical distancing of two metres is not possible or predictable.
“Above all, stay home if sick,” the province said.
As of Oct. 8, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 147,073 people tested per million population. The national rate was 214,103 people tested per million population.
On Sunday, 3,237 COVID-19 tests were performed in Saskatchewan – the highest daily number of tests reported to date.
