Yahoo Finance Alberta reports 1,651 new COVID-19 cases, 11 additional deaths
Alberta reported 1,651 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday and 11 new deaths from the disease.
The province continues to see increasing COVID hospitalizations and ICU admissions, which are pushing the limits of Alberta's health-care system.
There are now 1,061 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 243 in intensive care beds. Both are the highest the province has seen, though those benchmarks have been set multiple times in recent days when surpassed by even higher peaks.
The 1,651 new cases were detected through 16,848 tests with a positivity rate around 10.03 per cent.
With 11 new deaths the province has now seen 2,622 COVID-19 deaths throughout the pandemic.
Active cases of COVID-19 declined slightly from Thursday's update — the third straight day of an active case decrease. There are now 20,040 active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta.
Here's how they break down regionally:
Edmonton zone: 5,461
Calgary zone: 5,105
Central zone: 3,716
North zone: 3,582
South zone: 2,156
Unknown: 20
Vaccinations for COVID-19 continue to be administered at a steady pace since the province announced its plans for a vaccine passport, known as the restrictions exemption program.
There were 21,628 doses administered around the province on Thursday. About 82.3 per cent of the eligible population has received at least one COVID-19 shot, while 73.4 per cent have had both.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province's chief medical officer of health, posted on Twitter that there have been reports of people trying to falsify COVID-19 vaccine records. Hinshaw said the province is at a critical point and people should be abiding by restrictions instead of trying to find ways around them.
"Falsifying records is against the best interest of Albertans' health and is a criminal offence under the Criminal Code and may also be an offence under the Health Information Act," Hinshaw tweeted.
"Rather than risk potential consequences, get vaccinated. It's your best protection."
