The province reported nine new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday afternoon, bringing the total in Saskatchewan to 298.

Of the new cases, seven are confirmed while the other two are presumptive.

“The presumptive positives are due to more testing machines being added in Saskatchewan,” says a statement from the province.

“A new machine to test for COVID-19 is online at the Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory (RRPL). The first 10 positive specimens identified by the new machine must be considered presumptive positives and require confirmation using RRPL’s existing machine.

The news release says Meadow Lake has also started testing, and cases are considered presumptive until confirmed by the RRPL.

Another 17 people have recovered, marking another day where recoveries have outpaced new cases. The total number of recoveries is at 164.

Currently, seven people have been hospitalised, with nobody under intensive care.

Saskatchewan continues to have the second-highest rate of per capita testing among provinces at 19,276 completed so far.