Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab announced on Wednesday, May 27 the province recorded two additional deaths from COVID-19, bringing the total to 10.
Both individuals who died were residents from the far north region of Saskatchewan – both had tested positive for the virus. One was an individual in their 80s and the other was in their 60s. No additional information was provided by the province.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) also announced there has been an outbreak of COVID-19 in the Saskatoon area.
The outbreak is linked to two large family gatherings in early May that exceeded the public health order of 10 people. This was declared an outbreak, as it involved different households with transmission linked to large gatherings.
Shahab said as Saskatchewan continues to reopen, the public should consider other means of interaction to avoid further outbreaks in the province.
“If you do choose to have any gathering of whatever size, [ask] are people who are attending vulnerable and what can we do to minimize the risk of transmission,” said Shahab during a press conference.
According to a statement released by the SHA, the outbreak situation in Saskatoon is contained, with all close contacts isolating at home with no further risk to the public.
Shahab said although the public needs to engage in the reopening of the province and re-engage socially, nothing is risk free.
“What this underscores, is that we cannot go back to business as usual,” said Shahab. “Even though summer is beginning, even though we see more traffic on the roads and people outside, we still have to be very cautious. We still need to minimize transmission risk wherever we can.”
The province recorded three new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday with two being in the Regina area and one in the far north.
Saskatchewan had a provincial total of 637 cases of COVID-19. Of those cases, 68 were considered active.
On Wednesday, 10 more people have recovered bringing the provincial total to 559. There are currently four people in hospital with one receiving inpatient care in Regina and three in ICU in Saskatoon.
