The government is reporting three more COVID-19 related deaths on Tuesday, as well as 181 new cases and 223 recoveries.
All three of the deaths, which brings the provincial total to 125, were people aged 80 or over with two coming from Regina and the other being in the North West zone.
The province has also added 181 new cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday along with 223 recoveries; active cases have decreased to 3,945.
During Tuesday’s COVID-19 update by the government, Health Minister Paul Merriman pointed to some positive news saying Saskatchewan’s daily case average is starting to go down. The seven-day daily average now sits at 217 or 17.9 per 100,000 population. At the start of December, that number stood at 266.
However, Merriman was quick to remind people that it’s important to continue following public health restrictions during the holidays.
“It’s necessary to help us get ourselves to the finish line which will be sometime next year,” stated Merriman. “When a significant number of Saskatchewan people get vaccinated and life starts to get back to normal, 2020 is going to be a quiet Christmas and New Year’s, but 2021 is going to be a way better year.”
The minister urged people that their efforts to follow the public health restrictions put in place by the government are working. He added that the effort from residents must continue if they want to avoid an increase in numbers due to gatherings during the holidays.
“We all recognize that the people of Saskatchewan will be adhering to [the restrictions],” said Merriman. “If there are people that are flagrantly disobeying the public health guidelines, then I leave that to the police to make those decisions on what actions they should be taking.”
Tuesday’s new cases are located in the Far North West (8), Far North Central (2), Far North East (14), North West (35), North Central (36), North East (3), Saskatoon (35), Central West (1), Central East (3), Regina (43) and South West (1) zones.
Eight previously reported cases have been assigned to the Far North West (1), Far North Central (1), Far North East (2), North West (1), Saskatoon (1) and Regina (2) zones.
Seven Saskatchewan residents tested out-of-province have been added to the case counts in the North West (2), North Central (2), Saskatoon (2) and Central East (1) zones.
124 people are in hospital. 103 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. 21 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.
The province is also letting the public know ahead of time that daily provincial case information will not be happening every day as the year comes to a close.
There will be updates every day through to December 24, but there will be none of Christmas Day, December 26, December 28 and January 1. Case information from those dates will be included in the next scheduled posting.
(With files from Moises Canales)
