Alberta COVID-19 hospitalizations below 700, 24 deaths added
Alberta now has 683 people in hospital with COVID-19, 22 of whom are receiving care in ICUs.
That is a decrease of 19 hospitalizations and three ICU admissions compared to last week's update.
The last time Alberta's hospitalization numbers were this low was at the end of July, when 654 people were admitted.
Alberta Health data is routinely updated for accuracy and to account for reporting delays. Last week’s hospital numbers were retroactively increased from 702 to 726.
According to the province, 293 of the 726 people in hospital with COVID-19 last week were hospitalized for reasons directly related to the virus, while the other 433 people were admitted for other reasons, but incidentally tested positive. In the ICU, 44 per cent of patients were being treated because of COVID-19.
Alberta’s total number of COVID-19-related deaths went up by 24. Of the new deaths reported, 21 were retroactively added to past weeks, while three belong to this week.
Since its last data update, Alberta Health has counted 558 new COVID-19 cases in 5,545 PCR tests. That is a decrease of 38 cases and an increase of 467 tests compared to last week's update.
The number of new cases is likely higher because of testing limitations and because the province doesn't count positive results from rapid tests.
The average positivity rate is now at 10.32 per cent.
HOW DOES IT COMPARE?
On Feb. 6, 2021, 405 Albertans were hospitalized with COVID-19. In 2022, 1,611 patients were in hospital with the virus, while there were 683 people this year.
In 2021, there were 80 people with COVID-19 in intensive care on Feb. 6, compared to last year's 119 and this year's 22.
It is not known how many people in 2020 and 2021 were hospitalized and admitted to the ICU because of the virus versus people who were admitted for other reasons and incidentally tested positive, as that statistic was only made available by Alberta Health as of February 2022.
Alberta had 1,213 COVID-19-related deaths in 2020 and 2,106 in 2021. Last year, there were 2,102 deaths.
There have been 89 COVID-19-related deaths so far this year, bringing the province's pandemic death toll to 5,510.
The next data update is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 15.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.