COVID-19 in Sask: 4 new cases, 4 recoveries reported Friday

Saskatchewan has provided details on new drive-thru COVID-19 testing services in Regina and Saskatoon that are set to open next week.

Drive-thru testing sites will be open Sept.8 in Regina and Sept.10 in Saskatoon, in addition to the testing and assessment centres currently open.

The process will be different from other testing, in that people just need to show up with their health card and will not need a referral from a medical professional.

"The drive-thru testing... there have been other jurisdictions that have used it with some success. We haven't used it here yet so we thought it was important to start somewhere, monitor it, see how it works," said Health Minister Jim Reiter.

The announcement came Friday asthe province reportedfour new cases of COVID-19 and fourrecoveries.

The new cases are located in the north central, central west, southwest and south central zones.

CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority Scott Livingstone said they need to implement the drive-thru testing sites to see what kind of demand exists before expanding their hours or the sites further across the province.

"Until we know how popular they're going to be and how many days a week, and what time of hours we should be running, we're going to start slow and see how the public is accepting of this type of testing," he said. "Then we'll look at how we expand that."

Regina will see its drive-thru atEvraz Place open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m.to 4 p.m.

The Saskatoon siteat 3630 Thatcher Avenuewill be open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 12 p.m. until 7:15 p.m. and on weekends from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The total number of cases reported by the province is now 1,638, with 1,578of them havingrecovered. There are 36cases still considered active.

Three people are in hospital, with one in intensive care.

The province said 1,221COVID-19 tests were performed in Saskatchewan on Thursday bringing the provincial total to144,672 tests.

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