EDMONTON -- Alberta recorded 84 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the province's total to 12,053.
Another Albertan has also died due to the coronavirus, a woman in her 60s in the south zone. She is the 221st COVID-19-related fatality in the province.
The province's active case count remained the same as reported Thursday's at 1,036. As of today, 10,796 Albertans are classified as having recovered, an increase of 83.
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The city of Edmonton remains home to the most active cases of any Alberta municipality with 450 and 1,927 total cases. Calgary currently has 272 active cases and 5,667 total cases.
The city of Edmonton's case count has risen by 207 since Monday, including sizable increases in the northeast subzone.
The province says public health investigations are ongoing, but so far, there's no obvious outbreak or single cause behind Edmonton's rising case count.
"We don't, unfortunately, have as many details as we hope to gain as we complete those investigations," Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province's chief medical officer of health, said on Wednesday.
"That's going to take us a bit of time to work through that typical process and to be able to identify if there's some particular outbreaks."
Experts say the city's rising case count is worrying as fall approaches.
"The whole combination to me is really concerning, especially because this timing, like we’re just leading up to the fall, to school opening, and we really have to get a lid on it," said infectious disease specialist Dr. Lynora Saxinger.
"The rate at which those case numbers can increase, is incredibly fast, there’s also a reasonable high risk that we’re under-counting cases."
Alberta's COVID-19 numbers will be updated again on Friday and Monday, with Dr. Hinshaw returning for an in-person briefing next Tuesday.
