Saskatchewan Health reported 259 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon.  They also reported an additional death a resident of the South Zone bringing total deaths to 54.  Of the new cases 112 are in Regina and 50 in Saskatoon with lower numbers in other zones including one in the Far North East.  Of the 9244 reported cases 4,017 are considered active, 5173 people have recovered and 128 are in hospital with 24 in intensive care.

Saskatchewan Health Authority CEO Scott Livingstone reported they are moving forward with the next phase of their surge plan to meet the expected demand for COVID-19 patients in the next two weeks including required service slowdowns to support the deployment of up to 600 full time equivalent staff to support the pandemic response.  He noted by working together their teams have already ensured that these changes will not result in broad based shutdown of the health care system, this is a service shutdown.  He says they are committed to making these changes temporary, time limited and as targeted as possible.

He adds over the coming days services will be affected at varying levels in various locations depending on local plans and needs.