Saskatchewan health officials announced that for the first time since June 7, the province has not identified a new COVID-19 patient in a 24-hour testing period.
Saskatchewan labs completed 388 new tests for the virus, all of which came back negative. It’s the fewest tests its labs have administered in a day since June 9.
Since the last time it reported no new cases, the province has seen its COVID-19 situation fluctuate. On July 7, it had its fewest active cases throughout the pandemic with 16.
In July, Saskatchewan went through its worst stretch, which included a day where it recorded a record-high 60 daily cases. On July 28, the province had its most ever active cases with 322, as it dealt with outbreaks in communal living situations, which included Hutterite colonies.
As of Tuesday, there are now 88 active cases in the province, since eight more people have recovered in Saskatchewan’s latest 24-hour stretch. One more person in their 70s has also died in the Central region, which increases the death toll to 23.
On both Aug. 17 and Aug. 18, the province came very close to reporting no new cases. Health officials only reported one new case on both those days, despite completing 1,974 combined tests. Since then, the province has not recorded a double-digit increase to its total case count, as its active case count has also declined each day. On Aug. 24, the province dipped below 100 active cases for the first time since July 15.
Of the 88 currently infected patients that remain in the province, 57 of them are among communal living settings. Four patients are currently in hospital.
