Six Saskatchewan ICU patients will be sent to Ontario to free up space in the province's hospitals. 

Premier Scott Moe made this announcement on Monday after Saskatchewan set a new ICU capacity record, with 84 COVID-19 patients on Sunday.

One ICU patient will be transferred out Monday, and the other five will follow in the coming three days. 

Moe was asked if this ICU surge could have been avoided by putting restrictions in earlier.

"If the question is 'should we have moved a week or ten days earlier with that policy,' that's a fair question," said the Premier. 

Moe also said case numbers are reducing.

"Our hospitalizations have reduced the last ten days, but our intensive care numbers continue to be high."

During a briefing on Monday, members of the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre (PEOC), including those from the Saskatchewan Health Authority and Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, gave further details about the transferring of patients out-of-province.

Derek Miller, Chief of Emergency Operations for the SHA, explained how they will choose who will be sent out of the province.

"Our team of physicians are reviewing the patients that we currently have in ICU on a daily basis and identifying those that clinically would meet the required criteria for a safe transfer and also that they align with the clinical capacity on the receiving end," Miller said.

As of Monday, there were 124 people in ICU in total, including both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. 

The PEOC had set a threshold of 116 ICU patients before having transfer out-of-province.

"As we went into last weekend, and we were sitting at that number, we started this planning over the course of the weekend," Miller said.

As of this week, the province hasn't been triaging admissions into the ICU, something the Miller is hoping they can avoid by the out-of-province transfers.

"We are hopeful that with the initiation of out-of-province transfers, that obviously we want to avoid a scenario where we have to start triaging ICU admissions."

Opposition NDP Leader Ryan Meili released a statement following the announcement. 

"Today my thoughts are with the families of the critically ill patients who are being sent out-of-province because the Sask. Party failed to support our health system. Unfortunately, due to lack of planning and unwillingness to put patients and the people of this province first, our only option is to send patients across the country to receive care. It’s unacceptable," says Meili.

He also said that this situation was avoidable.