EDMONTON -- Alberta reported more than 200 cases of the variants of concern on Wednesday — the highest one-day increase to date.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said variant cases now account for 19 per cent of cases across the province after she reported another 202 infections.
The province also leads the country in cases of the B.1.1.7 strain first identified in the United Kingdom with 2,087 infections. Canada's total sits at 6,083. B.C. and Ontario trail behind with 1,397 and 1,389, respectively. Screening times differ widely between provinces, making cross-jurisdictional comparisions difficult.
In total, Alberta added 692 cases and two deaths on Wednesday.
Dr. Hinshaw also said Alberta is changing the way it reports variants of concern cases to speed up the process, "however, this means there will be a one-time combination of two days of variant cases that will likely cause a large-than-usual number of variant cases being reported tomorrow."
The positivity rate stands at 5.3 per cent after more than 12,800 tests, and there are 285 people in hospital with COVID-19.
Alberta Health Services has administered more than 512,000 vaccine doses, Hinshaw said.
