A fifth death due to complications of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan has been recognized by the provincial government.

A resident of the far north in their 80s died of complications related to the virus, the province said in their daily COVID media release.

There was also a double digit increase of COVID-19 cases Monday, with ten bringing the province to a total of 365. Eleven of those are in the far north.

Media reported that a person had said this weekend that their older family member had died due to COVID, but it wasn’t reported in the provincial numbers until Monday’s release.

“It is important to record and report COVID-19 cases and death in a uniform way, to ensure all jurisdictions have a consistent approach to reporting and that the evolving science can draw from this information,” the province’s release said. “COVID-19 fatalities must be confirmed by the medical health officer to ensure that the case meets the criteria in order to be documented in the epidemiological reporting tools, before they can be publicly reported by the ministry.”

The number of active cases has now risen to 72. Currently, there are seven people in hospital, with two of those in intensive care.

Of the cases, 139 are travel-related, 149 are community contacts or mass gatherings, 35 have no known exposures and 42 are under investigation by public health.

Thirty-eight of the cases are health care workers, and the province says the infections may not be because of their health care in all instances.

A total of 150 of the cases are from the Saskatoon area, 74 are from the Regina area, 69 are from the north, 46 are from the far north, 15 are from the south and 11 are from the central region.

Thirty cases are of people 19 and younger, and 79 are in the 60-and-older range. Fifty-one per cent of the cases are male and 49 per cent are female.

Thusfar, 28,296 tests have been performed in Saskatchewan.

The cases from La Loche are connected to an outbreak at an oil sands camp in northern Alberta.

“Saskatchewan residents are reminded that there is a Public Health Order restricting all non-essential travel into and out of northern Saskatchewan, specifically the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District,” today’s release said.

Dr. Saqib Shahab, the Chief Medical Health Officer, has also strongly recommended against non-essential travel between communities within northern Saskatchewan.