Saskatchewan is now reporting more than 10,000 total cases of COVID-19.
In Sunday’s update, there were 415 new cases reported in Saskatchewan, bumping the province to 10,139 total cases.
The update said there were 4,550 active cases of COVID-19, meaning nearly 45 per cent of the province’s total cases are active.
As of Sunday the seven-day average for new cases stood at 272.
Here’s a recap of how the province reached Sunday’s grim milestone and some of the measures that have been tried here.
The early days
Saskatchewan reported its first case of COVID-19 on March 12, in a person in their 60s who had recently travelled to Egypt.
On March 13 the province reported its second presumptive case of COVID-19 and announced the first in a series of wide range of restrictions, limiting gathering and event sizes and requiring those who recently travelled to self-isolate.
Less than a week later schools closed indefinitely.
On March 18, the province declared a state of emergency and by the end of the month the province recorded its first deaths related to COVID-19 and essentially locked down.
By March 30, there were 176 cases of COVID-19 recorded in Saskatchewan. By mid-April Premier Scott Moe began hinting at a gradual lifting of restrictions in the province.
In April the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan was announced and restrictions started to gradually lift.
But at the end of April, all non-critical travel was restricted into and out of the Northern Saskatchewan Administrative District, which covers nearly half of the province, due to rapidly rising COVID-19 cases in the La Loche-region.
Into the summer, colonies of Hutterites throughout Saskatchewan and the prairies began to report cases of COVID-19. Testing was made widely available and drive-thru testing sites opened in Regina and Saskatoon.
