EDMONTON -- Two more people have died as Alberta added 144 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the province's total to 12,748.

The two deaths are a man in his 70s from the North Zone and woman in her 80s from the Calgary Zone.

The number of active cases across Alberta grew by 60, up to 1,144. There have been 11,374 recoveries from COVID-19.

There are currently, 43 people in hospital including nine in intensive care units.

The city of Edmonton remains the province's COVID hotspot as its cases grew by 76 on Friday with its active cases rising to 608, an increase of 47. 

The city remains on the province's watch list with a sizable increase of 23 new in cases in the Northgate subzone

The province's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, will return for in-person update next week. 

Earlier this week, Hinshaw said much of the COVID-19 spread is connected to indoor social gatherings, but not at businesses.

She highlighted two "distinct private gatherings" where 26 and 17 people have tested positive for the coronavirus.

"This may be an Edmonton-specific wake-up call with respect to realizing that within these pockets of transmission, these social gatherings that it's critical that each one of us thinks about our activities."