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Saskatchewan has 25 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, the Ministry of Health said Wednesday afternoon, bringing the provincial total to 512.

Twenty-four of the new cases are in the far north, with 22 of those being in La Loche, while the remaining one is in the Saskatoon region. Of the 512 reported cases, 194 are considered active.

Two more people have recovered, bringing the provincial total to 312.

There are currently 13 people in hospital – nine are receiving inpatient care (two in the north and seven in Saskatoon) and four are in intensive care (three in Saskatoon and one in the north).

Of the 512 cases in the province, 139 cases are travellers, 204 are community contacts (mass gatherings included), 45 have no known exposures and 124 are under investigation by local public health.

The number of cases in the south region has remained unchanged at 15 for more than a month. There are 163 cases from the Saskatoon area, 152 from the far north, 95 from the north, 76 from the Regina area and 11 from the central region.

Forty-three cases are health care workers, however, the source of the infections may not be related to health care in all instances.

Sixty-six cases involve people 19 years of age and under, while the remainder are adults.

A total of 182 cases are in the 20-39 age range, 159 are in the 40-59 age range, 90 are in the 60-79 age range and 15 are in the 80-plus range.

Fifty per cent of the cases are females and 50 per cent are males.

Six deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported in the province.

To date, 33,591 COVID-19 tests have been performed in the province. As of May 3, when other provincial and national numbers were available from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Saskatchewan’s per capita rate was 26,109 people tested per million population, which exceeds the national rate of 25,024 people tested per million population.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority presently has one confirmed COVID-19 case of a staff member at the Meadow Lake Hospital. This case at the hospital was linked to community transmission. To date, no patients have presented with symptoms of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 positive staff member and close contacts to the confirmed case are on self-isolation and additional contact tracing is underway.

At this time there are no service disruptions at Meadow Lake Hospital. Key emergency department, emergency surgical and obstetrical services remain available. That is subject to change based on the ongoing risk assessment by public health and Meadow Lake Hospital management.

At the request of the communities of Stony Rapids and La Ronge and in consultation with local public health officials, the public health order restricting non-essential travel in the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District will be amended to include those communities effective May 6. These measures will assist in ensuring that only essential travel happens through the north, supporting measures to prevent the further transmission of COVID-19.