COVID-19 in Sask.: Pandemic death toll hits 800

Saskatchewan health officials reported 355 new COVID-19 cases and twomore deaths related to the virus Thursday.

A grim milestone was also set as the death toll for the pandemic has now hit 800.

October has been one of the worst months for Saskatchewan. In the past 30 days, 154 people have died.

There are now 76 people in intensive care,a figure that does not include six patients who weretransferred to Ontario earlier this week because hospitals in Saskatchewan are swamped. That's down from the record-breaking 85 patients who were in ICU on Monday.

In total, 322 people with COVID-19 are in hospital as of Thursday. About 73 per cent of them are not fully vaccinated.

The seven-day averagecase load rose slightly to 313 cases per day.

While many of the COVID-19 numbers have been going in the wrong direction in the past month, active cases have declined. Over the past 30 days, active cases went down by about a third, from 4,700 to 3,104.

The Saskatoon region remains the COVID-19hot spot, with738 active cases. The Regina region reported 472 active cases on Thursday.

For more than a month, more than 10 per cent of those tested in Saskatchewan have testedpositive.On Wednesday,3,241 people weretested.

The majority of people who got vaccinated Wednesday were getting their second shot. Justunder a third were first-timers.

The new COVID-19 case numbers by region for Thursday are:

• Regina: 38.
• Saskatoon: 89.
• Northwest: 53.
• Southeast: 21.
• East central: 34.
• North central: 34.
• Far northeast: 13.
• Far northwest: 14.
• Northeast: 8.
• South central: 11.
• Southwest: 9.
• West central: 5.