COVID-19 in Alberta: 14 deaths, ICU admissions drop

Alberta reported 14 new COVID-19 deaths on Thursday as hospitalizations continue to put pressure on the health-care system.

The province has reported 3,518 deaths since the pandemic began nearly two years ago.

There are 1,469 patients with COVID-19 in hospital, including 106 in ICU.

"We have seen much, much less impact in our ICU units," Premier Jason Kenney told reporters Thursday afternoon.

But he added that "there's real stress in the system."

Hospitalizations have increased by 251 in the past seven days, and ICU admissions have decreased by six in the same period of time.

Alberta reported 3,218 new COVID-19 cases from more than 9,300 PCR tests.

The province's positivity rate continued to decrease on Thursday, to 34.7 per cent.

Just over 80 per cent of Albertans have received one vaccine dose, 74 per cent have two doses and 32.1 per cent have three doses.

Alberta will update its COVID-19 data on Friday. 

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