COVID-19 in Sask.: province reports more than 400 new cases for 5th day in a row

For the fifth day in a row, Saskatchewan has reported more than 400 COVID-19 cases in a day. Thursday's count is 439.

One more Saskatchewan resident has also died due to the virus.

Meanwhile, there are 218 COVID-19 patients in hospital. Forty-eight of them are in Saskatchewan's ICUs, up from the 40 reported Wednesday.

The province says that one-third of the new cases are in people under the age of 20.

Saskatchewan has had 60,589 cases since the beginning of the pandemic and currently has 4,064 known active cases, according to the provincial dashboard.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases has jumped up to 438, or 36.4 new cases per 100,000 people.

Premier Scott Moe has answered calls for action with the announcement of some major new restrictions Thursday. Starting Friday, there will be a mandatory masking order that will apply to all public indoor places. Starting Oct. 1, there will be a mandatory vaccination or negative test policy that will apply to certain businesses and gathering places.

Thursday's new cases are located in the following zones:

• Far northwest: 22.

• Far northeast: 39.

• Northwest: 61.

• North central: 42.

• Northeast: 11.

• Saskatoon: 124.

• Central west: eight.

• Central east: 29.

• Regina: 28.

• Southwest: five.

• South central: seven.

• Southeast: 38.

Location information is pending for another 25 new cases.

Vaccinations in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan reported 2,595 new COVID-19 vaccine doses administered on Thursday.

Of them, 1,257 were first doses and 1,338 were second doses.

The province also reported 3,753 new COVID-19 tests.

About 71 per cent of the Saskatchewan population eligible for vaccination has been fully vaccinated and 80 per cent have received at least one dose, according to CBC's vaccine tracker.