COVID-19 in Sask.: 81 new cases, 53 people in hospital on Friday

The province has announced 81 new cases of COVID-19 and 108 recoveries from the illnessin Saskatchewan.

Sixteen of the new cases announced Friday are in the Regina region.

Another 11are in the northeast zone,10 are in the north central zone, eightare in the south central zone, and seven arein the northwest.

Thefar north central and southwest regions each reported six new cases, while there were five in Saskatoon. The southeast and central east regions each had four new cases, and there were three in far northeast. The remaining case was in the far northwest.

Fifty-three people are now in hospital with COVID-19, including 15 in intensive care.

There are now 1,427active cases, out of a total of4,513 reported since the start of the pandemic.

The latest case numbers wereannounced shortly after the province revealed newrestrictions coming into place to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Among the restrictions effectiveMonday, high schools with more than 600 people will moveto Level 3 in the back to school plan, which means reduced in-class learning. People will beasked to limit their "socialbubbles" to two or three people.

On Thursday, 1,706 COVID-19 tests were processed in the province.