1,704 new COVID-19 cases reported in Minnesota Saturday

The Minnesota Department of Health on Saturday reported five new deaths from COVID-19, as well as 1,704 newly reported positive COVID-19 tests.

So far, 2,208 people have died of the coronavirus in Minnesota, including 1,560 in long-term care and assisted living facilities.

Nine deaths are also listed as probable COVID-19 deaths.

To date, 8,801 COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized in Minnesota and xxxx patients have been in the ICU.

According to MDH, the 1,704 newly reported positive COVID-19 tests in Minnesota on Saturday moved the state’s total to 121,090 since pandemic record-keeping began. The number came after more than 28,000 tests were processed Friday.

This week, MDH started reporting positive cases from antigen testing, which began in September. A total of 272 probable cases have been reported since antigen testing began.

Of the cases newly reported Saturday, 22 were reported as probable cases.

A total of 106,774 patients have recovered, or are recovering, and no longer need isolation, according to MDH.

As of Saturday, over 2.45 million tests for COVID-19 have been completed in Minnesota.

KSTP’s complete COVID-19 coverage

See the full Minnesota COVID-19 situation update here.

According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, the virus has infected more than 39.4 million people worldwide and killed over 1.1 million people.

About 27.1 million people worldwide have recovered as of Saturday.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, patients with confirmed COVID-19 have mild to severe respiratory problems, with symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath. Some patients report having muscle aches, headache, sore throat, and/or chills and shaking.

Note: According to MDH – "Because all data are preliminary, the change in number of cumulative positive cases and deaths from one day to the next may not equal the newly reported cases or deaths."