The far north has overtaken Saskatoon as the provincial hotspot for COVID-19.

In a media release Thursday, the Government of Saskatchewan said there were 19 new cases  in the province — 15 of them in the far north. That included 12 cases in the La Loche area.

There have been 109 new cases in the far north since the start of May, raising the region’s total to date to 167. There have been 163 cases so far in the Saskatoon area.

The total of cases to date of 531 also includes 99 cases in the northern region, 76 from the Regina area, 15 from the south and 11 from the central region.

The other four new cases are in the north.

However, the province announced that an outbreak at the Lloydminster Hospital has been declared stable. As a result, Phase 1 of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan can begin in that city on Monday — one week after it started in other cities around the province.

The province Thursday also reported 17 more people had been declared recovered. That’s the highest one-day total since April 15, when 18 people were said to have recovered.

There have been 329 recoveries to date and six people have died.

There are 196 active cases, including 138 in the far north, 39 in the north, 16 in Saskatoon and three in Regina. The central and southern regions currently don’t have any active cases.

There are 12 people in hospital in the province, including eight (six in Saskatoon and two in the north) who are receiving inpatient care. Four people (three in Saskatoon and one in the north) are in intensive care.

Of the 531 cases, 231 are community contacts, 139 are travellers, 53 don’t have any known exposures and 108 are under investigation by local public health.

So far, 43 health-care workers have had the virus, although not all contracted it in a work setting.

There have been 71 cases involving people 19 years of age and under. That number has more than doubled since the start of May; there were 35 such cases on April 30.

Also seeing a large increase is the 20-to-39 age range, which now has 188 cases. That number was at 141 at the end of April.

There have been 163 cases in the 40-to-59 age range, 93 between the ages of 60 and 79, and 16 in the 80-and-over range.

The total number of 34,361 tests done to date included 770 on Wednesday.

Lloydminster ready to reopen

The outbreak that had been declared at the Lloydminster Hospital put the city a week behind others in the province when it came to restarting much of its economy.

Starting Monday, services and businesses can reopen — provided they follow the phased approach and safety procedures set out by the government.

Physical distancing and frequent hand-washing still will be required and gatherings will continue to have a limit of 10 people.

More to come.