COVID-19 in Sask: Shahab says travel-related cases related to essential travel, expats returning

Three cases of COVID-19 that have arisen in Saskatchewan this week are linked to inter-provincial and international travel. Chief medical health officerDr. Saqib Shahab saysthat will continue to happen, but that overall case numbers remain low.

Two more cases of COVID-19 were announced in Saskatchewan on Wednesday, with one eachin the Saskatoon area and the southern region of the province.

"This is just a reminder that while our total travel numbers remain low, we continue obviously to have small numbers of international travel, expats returning or other essential workers returning," said Shahab, the province's chief medical health officer on Wednesday.

Essential travel between provinces has also continued.Shahab said this means there will be cases that will pop up related to travel, or community transmission.

"Overall, our cases numbers, total, remain low, and cases due to importation or inter-provincial travel remain low as well," Shahab said.

The two new casesbump the total numberof known cases in the province up to 658. There are now 21 active cases in the province.

There have been 624 recoveries since March. No recoveries were announced Wednesday.

One person is hospitalized in an intensive care unit in Saskatoon.

The province processed an additional 605 tests on Tuesday. There have been 53,116tests in total.

Seven of the active cases arein the far north region, one in the north region, seven in the Saskatoon area, four in the Regina areaand twoin the southern region.

There have been 261 cases reported in the far north region overall, along with 112 cases in the north region, 175 in the Saskatoon area, 80 in the Regina area, 18in the southern region and 12 in the central region.

The province has traced 145cases to travel and 395 cases to community contacts or mass gatherings. Another 40 cases still are being investigated. There are 78cases with no known exposure.

Thirteen Saskatchewan people have diedafter beingdiagnosed with COVID-19 since the virus was first detected in the province in March.