COVID-19 in Alberta: Hospitalizations rise as 8,500 weekend cases, 41 deaths reported
Alberta reported more than 8,500 weekend COVID-19 cases on Monday evening.
After technical issues delayed the release of data for several hours, Alberta Health said the cases were identified after completing nearly 23,000 tests, including 10,378 on Friday and 7,879 on Saturday.
There were 4,069 confirmed cases on Friday, 2,633 on Saturday, and 1,801 on Sunday.
In terms of active infections, there are now more than 55,600 throughout the province, however, Alberta's chief medical officer of health estimates the true case count is more than 10 times than indicated by PCR results.
There are now 1,304 people in hospital being treated for the virus, including 108 in intensive care. That number of hospitalizations represents an increase of 113 patients since Friday.
Forty-one deaths over three days were reported by Alberta Health, raising the pandemic total to 3,470.
"Unfortunately, due to ongoing technical issues, we will be unable to update the interactive data app until tomorrow," Dr. Deena Hinshaw tweeted Monday evening.
"We appreciate your continued patience," she added.
As of Monday, more than 8.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.
Unvaccinated Albertans are outnumbered nearly four-to-one by those who have had at least a first shot of vaccine, but are many times more likely to experience a severe outcome due to COVID-19 including hospitalization or death.
It is expected that the next data update will be on Tuesday.
OTHER COVID-19 RELATED NEWS
A convoy is headed to Parliament Hill in Ottawa to protest Canada's vaccine requirements of transport drivers who cross its shared U.S. border. A segment was supposed to have passed through the Edmonton-area Sunday night, while another leg will leave Calgary Monday morning.The Canadian Trucking Alliance has condemned the protest, and says the majority of its members are vaccinated.
Alberta is making more room for COVID-19 patients with a new ward in the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton and two "pandemic response units" at the Kaye Edmonton Clinic and Calgary's South Health Campus.
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