Sask. NDP raises concerns about under-reporting COVID-19 patients in hospitals

The Opposition NDP says it's concerned Saskatchewan may have returned to under-reporting the number of COVID-19 patients who are in hospital.

Leader Ryan Meili says he's heard concerns from front-line workers that the Ministry of Health has begun excluding patients who entered hospital with the virus, but are no longer thought to be infectious.

His statement comes after provincial health officials didn't release hospital data on Tuesday, saying the ministry was "continuing to update data reporting systems."

The next day, it announced 185 people were in hospital, including 26 patients in intensive care.

On Thursday the province revised its COVID-19 update and announced ongoing "data validations" resulted in an under-reporting of hospitalizations on Tuesday and Wednesday, which was corrected. The new numbers stand at 216 in hospital, including 30 in ICU.

The hospitalization information provided by the province after Meili's comments included both infectious and non-infectious COVID-19 cases receiving care.

In December, the province revealed it had been under-reporting the number of COVID-19 patients who were in hospital because it had been excluding those who were no longer infectious, but still needed care due to virus-related complications.