COVID-19 in Alberta: Highest daily increase since October, province adds 1.3K new cases

Alberta’s COVID-19 case count ballooned on Wednesday to its highest point since the start of October with 1,346 new cases reported.

It’s the first day with over 1,000 new cases since Oct. 14 and the highest one-day increase since Oct. 1. 

• Infographics: COVID-19 in Alberta by the numbers
• COVID-19 in Edmonton: Numbers broken down by neighbourhood

Of the 522 new Omicron cases, 177 were in the Edmonton Zone and 326 were in the Calgary zone.

The Edmonton and Calgary zones are significantly bigger than the cities themselves.   

Variant cases are identified through a second screening done after an initial positive test for COVID-19. The time needed for that further screening means the new Omicron cases are likely from several days ago.

There are now 326 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, including 65 in intensive care units.

Among all Albertans, 78.8 per cent have now had at least one dose of vaccine, and 72.6 per cent of the entire population has had a second dose. 

More than 144,000 doses of vaccine have now been administered to children between the ages of five and 11 and more than 714,000 additional doses have been given out across all age groups. 

Unvaccinated Albertans remain significantly more likely to suffer a severe outcome after contracting COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.

Alberta’s next data update is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.