Three deaths, 181 new cases of COVID-19 and 223 recoveries

Eight previously reported cases have been assigned to the Far North West (one), Far North Central (one), Far North East (two), North West (one), Saskatoon (one) and Regina (two) zones.

Seven Saskatchewan residents tested out-of-province have been added to the case counts in the North West (two), North Central (two), Saskatoon (two) and Central East (one) zones.

Seven previously reported cases assigned to the North West zone (three), Far North West zone (one) and with pending residence information (three) have been found to be out-of-province residents and have been removed from the case counts.

Health Minister Scott Merriman says in a media conference today he knows this will not be the Christmas anyone wanted.

“I can assure you there is no one in our government who would be asking you to spend Christmas this way if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”

Private indoor gatherings are limited to immediate households, or people you currently live with only.

People who live alone may meet with one other household of less than five people.

Of the cases, 3,945 cases out of the 13,942 cases are considered active. A total of 9,872 individuals have recovered.

One hundred and twenty-four people are in hospital. One hundred and three people are receiving inpatient care: two in the Far North West, five in the North West, 17 in the North Central, two in the North East, 43 in the Saskatoon, one in the Central West, five in the Central East, 22 in the Regina and six in the South East zones. Twenty-one people are in intensive care: one in the North West, seven in the North Central, eight in the Saskatoon, three in the Regina and two in the South West zones.

The total vaccinations completed to December 21 is 1,519. These are part of the Regina pilot vaccination phase.

COVID-19 map in Saskatchewan. (Submitted photo/Saskatchewan Health Authority)

Of the 13,942 cases in the province:

595 cases are travelers;
6,695 are community contacts (including mass gatherings);
3,153 have no known exposures; and
3,499 are under investigation by local public health.

Overall in Saskatchewan to date:

589 cases are healthcare workers; however, the source of the infections may not be related to healthcare in all instances.
3,006 cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults.
4,939 cases are in the 20-39 age range; 3,591 are in the 40-59 age range; 1,806 are in the 60-79 age range; and 595 are in the 80-plus range. Confirmation of age is pending for five cases.
50.5 per cent of the cases are female and 49.5 per cent are male.
125 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported to date.

Of 13,942 confirmed cases:

4,035 cases are from the Saskatoon area
3,262 cases are from the north area (1,282 north west, 1,522 north central, 458 north east)
2,739 cases are from the Regina area
1,504 cases are from the south area (551 south west, 525 south central, 428 south east)
1,497 cases are from the far north area (843 far north west, 106 far north central, 548 far north east)
871 cases are from the central area (331 central west, 540 central east)
34 cases have pending residence information

To date, 410,616 COVID-19 tests have been processed in Saskatchewan. As of December 20, 2020 when other provincial and national numbers were available, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 250,250 people tested per million population. The national rate was 350,871 people tested per million population.

Yesterday, 2,172 COVID-19 tests were processed in Saskatchewan.

The seven-day average of daily new cases is 217 (17.9 new cases per 100,000 population) and is now available on the Government of Saskatchewan website. This chart compares today’s average to data collected over the past several months. Please visit https://dashboard.saskatchewan.ca/health-wellness/covid-19/seven-day-average-of-new-covid-cases.

The seven-day average for daily new cases of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan is 217, down from 263 a week ago.

Health Minister Paul Merriman says that’s good news and means current restrictions must continue.

“What we are doing is making a difference, our case numbers while still higher than we would like, have started to drop.”

Case Information Posting through December

The daily provincial case information, including news release and dashboard, will be posted December 21 through December 24; December 27; December 29 through December 31. Updates will not be available on December 25, 26, 28 and January 1. Case information from those dates will be included in the next, scheduled information posting.

General COVID-19 Information

General public inquiries may be directed to COVID19@health.gov.sk.ca.

NITHA communities

According to the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority’s (NITHA) Facebook page, as of Dec. 21 there are 288 active cases of COVID-19 in NITHA communities.

These cases are located in the Far North Central, Athabasca (10), Far North West (72), Far North East (113), North Central (71), and North East (22).

There are 816 cases (73 per cent) recovered, and four people are currently in hospital.

The latest numbers specific to NITHA communities as of Dec. 21. (submitted photo/NITHA)

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panews@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow

by paNOW Staff

Three deaths, 181 new cases of COVID-19 and 223 recoveries

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