EDMONTON -- Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in Alberta declined Saturday after setting multiple records earlier this month.
In a limited update over Twitter, the province’s top doctor reported that 686 people were in hospital with COVID-19 – a decrease of 32 patients since Friday.
Hospitalizations have been declining everyday since they spiked to 741 patients on Wednesday. Saturday marked the largest decrease in the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 since that spike.
According to Dr. Deena Hinshaw, 178 people are in ICU – a new pandemic record for Alberta.
The province completed more than 12,900 tests and reported 1,195 new infections of COVID-19.
May 8 was the last time Alberta reported more than 2,000 new daily cases.
The seven-day average of new cases is now at 1,557.
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Saturday marked the third day in a row that the provincial positivity rate has decreased. It is 9.58 per cent.
Three new deaths from COVID-19 were reported Saturday raising the provincial total to 2,140.
The province has 22,993 active cases of COVID-19.
The Calgary zone leads the province for active cases with 10,908 cases.
The Edmonton zone has slightly less than half of that number of active cases with 5,140 while the North zone has 3,382.
The Central and South zones have 2,398 and 1,152 cases, respectively.
There are 13 cases with unknown zones of origin.
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The Edmonton zone leads the province for ICU admissions with 74 receiving intensive care. The Calgary zone has 67 while the North zone has 16.
In terms of hospitalizations, the Calgary zone leads the province with 254 people in hospital. The Edmonton zone has 243 while the North and Central zones have 89 and 64, respectively.
Approximately 192,688 people have recovered from COVID-19.
Over 2,080,000 vaccine doses have been administered as of May 13 in Alberta.
Forty per cent of Albertans have received at least one dose of vaccine while 7.3 per cent of the population is fully immunized.
