COVID-19 in Sask.: Province leads Canada in death rates, data issue affects case count
CBC
Saskatchewan reported its lowest number of new COVID-19 cases in the province since early August on Saturday — but the unusually low number could be due to network issues, the province said.
At the same time, federal data shows Saskatchewan continues to lead the nation in death rates from the illness.
Saskatchewan's online COVID-19 dashboard reported 53 new cases on Saturday — a drop of 69 from the 122 cases reported Friday and the lowest number since Aug. 3, when there were 25 new cases.
However, a note from the province said a "network issue" led to an incomplete transfer of test data to the provincial database for Saturday.
Those numbers not included in the province's most recent update are expected to be added on Sunday.
More than one in four new cases are in people under 12 and ineligible for vaccination.
Of the new cases found in people eligible for vaccination, almost one in three cases were in people who were fully vaccinated.
The number of active cases in the province reported Saturday also dropped, with 1,324 reported.
Although data issues may have led to the particularly low case count Saturday, new daily case numbers have continued to trend downward over the past week.
Neighbouring Manitoba now has the highest running seven-day average of new cases per 100,000 people, with 84 cases per 100,000 people over the last seven-day period, compared to 79 in Saskatchewan, according to the most recent government of Canada daily epidemiology update.
For now, however, Saskatchewan still has a higher 14-day case rate (172 per 100,000) than Manitoba (146).
Despite Saskatchewan's downward trend in new cases, the province still has the worst death rate in the country.
As of Friday, Saskatchewan had a rate of 2.4 deaths per 100,000 people over the past seven days, and 3.8 per 100,000 over the last 14 days.
There were two new deaths reported in Saskatchewan on Saturday, bringing the total to 893.
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Gary Anandasangaree has formally apologized to Inuit in Nunavik for the federal government's role in the mass killing of sled dogs in the region in the 1950s and 1960s.
High winds and rain caused power outages to hundreds of homes and businesses in Prince County on Saturday.
Northerners will soon see RCMP officers with cameras on their person, as training for the body-worn cameras roll out for Mounties across the country.
Dozens of Indigenous women with a desire to learn how to hunt and to use traditional methods to prepare the animal will meet this weekend for the first-ever all-female deer hunt on Oneida Nation of the Thames territory.
A disgraced real-estate lawyer who this week admitted to pilfering millions in client money to support her and her family's lavish lifestyle was handcuffed in a Toronto courtroom Friday afternoon and marched out by a constable to serve a 20-day sentence for contempt of court, as her husband and mother watched.
A provincial child-care advocacy group says governments need to commit to pushing $10-a-day child care forward in Canada, but a conservative think tank says data shows it isn't working as intended in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Diane Sims has already written her own obituary.
Thirty years after her murder in 1994, Halifax police are still looking for Kimber Leanne Lucas's killer.
When Kevin Campbell took a 1991 Chevy truck in trade at his dealership on Moncton's Salisbury Road in early November, he didn't have it for long.
Quebec mayor says 'one-size-fits-all' language law isn't right for his town where French is thriving
English is not Daniel Côté's first language but he says it's integral to the town he calls home.
As their role in health care continues to grow, nurse practitioners across Canada are looking to Alberta, where nurse practitioners recently formed their own union — but on P.E.I., the nurses' union that represents them says it's doing its job.