Alberta reports 4 COVID-19 deaths in final daily update

The Alberta government issued its final daily COVID-19 update on Friday.

In it, the province reported four COVID-19 deaths, increasing the province's death toll to 4,023 since the pandemic began.

The province has 966 Albertans in hospital with the coronavirus, 62 of whom are receiving care in ICUs.

Alberta Health counted 502 new COVID-19 cases on Friday after nearly 3,000 PCR tests.

Alberta has 6,583 COVID-19 infections right now, but that number is likely much higher because of testing limitations and since the province doesn't count positive results from rapid tests.

On Wednesday, government and health officials announced Alberta would no longer update its COVID-19 website daily on weekdays.

Instead, the province will announce its COVID-19 data and give live updates on Wednesdays.

OTHER COVID-19 RELATED NEWS 

The COVID-19 BA.2 variant – a version of Omicron that is harder to detect than the original – could cause Alberta's sixth wave by early summer, one developmental biologist says. According to the chief medical officer of health, less than half of Alberta's known confirmed cases are the BA.2 strain. Modellers in Ontario are urging caution after the latest projection suggested cases are beginning to surge again. 

However, with a restriction-free summer still looming ahead, wedding planners and vendors are expecting a busy season. Those in the industry say they are struggling to catch up on a backlog and also serve newly engaged couples who want to marry while large gatherings are permitted. 

Calgary Police Commission will hold a special meeting Friday to discuss the police department's response to COVID-19-mandate protests that have returned to its Beltline neighbourhood weekly. A week ago, Calgary police officers were witnessed, and recorded, shoving counter-protesters back with their bikes, fuelling criticism about their methods.