COVID-19 in Sask: 5 new deaths, 302 new cases announced Wednesday

Five more Saskatchewan residents have died from COVID-19, public health officials announced Wednesday.

All five lived in the Regina zone and were 80 years old or older. Saskatchewan'stotal number of deaths due to COVID-19 is now 71.

Meanwhile, another 302 COVID-19 cases were also announced Wednesday, nearly half of which were linked to the Regina zone. Thetotal of known active cases in Saskatchewan is now 4,707 though the province says this number is inflated due to a backlog in data entry.

Of Wednesday's new cases, 131 were in the Regina area, 59 were in the Saskatoon area, 35 were in the north central and 26 were linked to the north west zone.

Fifteen of the cases were in the far north east, while 14 were from the far north west.

The south east area had five new cases, and there were four new cases each in the central and south west zones, three in south central, two in central east and one each in the far north central and north east regions.

Two of the new cases have pending residence information.

The seven-day average of daily new cases increasedto 273.

Fourteen more health-care workers have now tested positive for COVID-19, pushing the total since March to 359 with 286 of those health-care workers havingtested positive since the beginning of October.

Ninety-eight more people in their 20s or 30s have tested positive for COVID-19, 64 more people from40 to 59 years old have contracted the illness, as haveanother 63 people 19 years old or younger.

There are slightly fewer people in hospital due to COVID-19 than there was Tuesday. There are 140 hospitalizations down four from Tuesday but the 27 in intensive care is the same as the previous day.

Another 253 Saskatchewan residents were deemed recovered from COVID-19 Wednesday, pushing the total number of recoveries to 6,121.

There were 2,650 COVID-19 tests conducted in Saskatchewan Tuesday, pushing the total to 372,405.