EDMONTON -- Alberta added 812 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday while the number of patients in hospitals and intensive care units fell slightly. 

It's the fourth straight day the province has added fewer than a thousand daily new cases. 

There are now 665 Albertans in hospitals, and a total of 177 in ICUs. The province had set record high ICU patient counts both of the past two days. 

Hospitalizations had surpassed 700 as recently as a week ago.

Four more deaths were reported Thursday, including that of an Edmonton-area man in his 40s. There have now been 2,162 deaths due to COVID-19 in Alberta since the start of the pandemic.

Active cases continued to fall, down to 17,675  â€”  the lowest total since the value reported April 16.

The test positivity percentage was 9.27 per cent based on just over nine thousand tests. 

More than 1.9 million Albertans have now received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. And, just over 335,000 have been fully vaccinated. 

Dr. Hinshaw will return for another in-person update after the long weekend.