EDMONTON -- During an emergency session at the legislature Wednesday night, Premier Jason Kenney said he is expecting hospitalizations to peak in early May.

"We are confident that we will be capable to cope with the peak of hospitalizations," Kenney said.

He said Alberta Health Services has freed up 1,300 acute care beds so far and will have 2,250 available by April 22, three weeks before the projected peak.

More beds will become available in late April and into May. Kenney said AHS will release the details of their plan early next week.

The special session was to discuss the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of Wednesday evening, Alberta had 871 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Eleven people have died.

AHS has conducted more than 4,500 tests in the past 24 hours and more than 50,000 tests since the pandemic began.