COVID-19 in Sask: 4 new cases, all in La Loche area, announced Wednesday

The Saskatchewan government announced on Wednesday it had confirmed four additional cases of COVID-19 in the province, all from the La Loche area.

There have been 577 total cases recorded since the novel coronavirus was first detected in Saskatchewan in March. Provincial data says that 186 cases are currently active throughout the province, with no known cases in the Regina area or southern region.

"In the north, we are making progress with respect to not just identifying the cases, but containing the spread," said Scott Livingstone, CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, on Wednesday. "The results over the last few days are confirming that."

He said there are about 35 health workers who have gone door-to-door to 200 households in the La Loche area for testing. There are about 750 homes in the area.

"We will be going door-to-door to all of them over the next two weeks," Livingstone added.

The testing being conducted by the health workers includes assessment, mobile testing, sanitation and contact tracing.

There were 1,949 people tested in the region since March. All together, there have been 2,149 tests in the region, as of Wednesday.

There are 149 active cases in the far north region, which includes the village of La Loche, where an outbreak is being managed. There are 25 active cases in the north region, 11 in the Saskatoon area and one in the central region.

One case of COVID-19 previously reported as being in the Regina area has been reassigned to the north region, the government said.

There are 10 people hospitalized, with three of them in a Saskatoon intensive care unit.

The province's tracing efforts have linked 139 overall cases to travel and 297 cases to community contacts or mass gatherings.

There are 65 cases with no known exposure, indicating community transmission. Another 76 cases remain under investigation.

There have been 38,157 tests administered throughout the province in total. There were 462 tests conducted Tuesday.

There have been 385 recoveries overall. Six people have died.