COVID-19 in Sask: 2 new cases, 9 more recoveries reported Thursday

The Saskatchewan government announced two new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. One case is in the Saskatoon area and the other is in the north region.

The province also announced nine more recoveries, bumping the total number of recoveries up to 568. There have been 639 cases recorded overall since the virus was first detected in the province in March.

There were 751 tests processed by the province on Thursday. The province has tested 2,007 people since expanded testing criteria came into effect Monday.

"We'll continue to watch and analyze what we're seeing, particularly to the test positivity rate, which was low even though we had very very broad criteria," Scott Livingstone, CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority said on Thursday. "We are seeing more coming in [for testing]."

 The province has conducted 45,869 tests in total.

The provincial breakdown indicates that 304 of the 751 tests processed on Wednesday were in the Saskatoon region, where an outbreak has been declared. The outbreak is linked to gatherings in early May.

The four known cases in that outbreak have been connected to mass gatherings in Saskatoon that allegedly violated the public health order on gatherings of 10 or more people.

"Our first step is to educate. Our first step is to work with all of those involved to ensure they understand the seriousness in adherence to these public health orders," Premier Scott Moe said Thursday.

"If there's a repeated not-following of the public health order, most certainly we would move forward with a fine."

There are 61 known active cases in the province as of Thursday, with 46 active cases in the far north region, five in the north region, seven in the Saskatoon area, two in the Regina area and one in the southern region.

There have been 253 cases in the far north region overall, along with 112 cases in the north region, 168 in the Saskatoon area, 78 in the Regina area, 16 in the southern region and 12 in the central region.

The province has traced 141 cases to travel and 369 cases to community contacts or mass gatherings. Another 53 cases still are being investigated. There are 76 cases with no known exposure.

Four people are in hospital, three of them in intensive care.  Ten people diagnosed with the novel coronavirus in the province have died.