Alberta reports 209 new COVID-19 cases since Thursday, including 31 on Sunday

EDMONTON -

Community spread and case counts continue to decline in Alberta, which reported 209 new cases of COVID-19 since Thursday.

The province reported technical issues on Friday preventing a full online update, including hospitalization and ICU data. That data was released on Monday since COVID-19 data updates are no longer provided on weekends.

The province completed more than 4,500 tests and identified 209 new cases of COVID-19 since the last update, translating to a provincial positivity rate of 0.87 per cent.

Monday marked the second straight day the positivity rate was below one per cent. The seven-day rolling average for the positivity rate is 1.28 per cent.

There were 81 new cases of COVID-19 identified on Thursday, 64 on Friday, 33 on Saturday, and 31 on Sunday.

Alberta’s new seven-day average for COVID-19 cases is 73.

The province now has 1,261 active infections.

The Calgary zone leads the province for active cases with 682, representing 54 per cent of the total cases.

The North zone has 201 active infections while the Edmonton zone has 195. The Central and South zones have 137 and 42, respectively. There are four active cases with an unknown zone of origin.

There are 179 people with COVID-19 in hospital, including 86 in the Calgary zone and 46 in the Edmonton zone.

There are 20 patients in hospital in the North zone, 19 in the Central zone, and eight in the South zone.

Thirty-nine patients are in ICU.

Of the population aged 12 and over, 71.7 per cent have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Since Thursday, 18,794 first doses have been administered.

Approximately 38.6 per cent of Albertans eligible for vaccination are fully immunized.

Community spread, indicated by R values, is declining across the province. Values lower than one indicate spread is slowing.

The provincial value is 0.75 while the Calgary zone’s is 0.74. The Edmonton zone value is 0.73. The rest of Alberta has a value of 0.77.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw is scheduled to give her last COVID-19 update on Tuesday after delivering more than 230 press conferences.