Alberta’s top doctor announced 111 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the province Friday, bringing the total number of active cases to 1,444.
Of those cases, 41 people are in hospital and six people are receiving treatment in intensive care.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw also announced a new outbreak had been identified in one unit of the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Grande Prairie.
One new death was also been reported in the province on Friday, a woman in her 90s from the Edmonton zone who was a resident at the Good Samaritan Care Centre.
Hinshaw noted that Alberta’s death toll, however, remains unchanged at 253. She said that’s because a previously announced death has been removed from the total number after a post-mortem determined COVID-19 was not the cause of death for one individual.
As of Friday, 13,718 Albertans had recovered from COVID-19 and more than one-million tests had been completed.
Hinshaw also added that since in-person classes have resumed, 29 schools have seen an individual attend while infectious, and three schools remain the sites of active outbreaks. However, she noted that classroom infections aren’t a cause for widespread concern.
“I want to reinforce that these schools are not a risk to their communities,” Hinshaw said.
Hinshaw also announced that some restrictions have been lifted for specific activities across the province, including choirs and musical instrument practices.
“These are activities that many Albertans have sorely missed,” she said.
“We have updated our approach to allow limited band practices, singing and wind instruments concerts to occur, providing distancing, enhanced cleaning and other precautions are implemented.”
The activities were initially limited due to concerns about potentially spreading the novel coronavirus. Hinshaw said that while some of these activities will now be allowed in small and controlled settings, large events are still discouraged.
“Choirs may begin again with maximum size limits and masking, however, audience singing is still not allowed and congregational singing in a faith setting is still not encouraged,” she said.