Alberta has broken another grim record when it comes to COVID-19, with 1,105 new cases reported on Thursday.
This is the second time the province has seen more than 1,000 new cases in a 24-hour period. The last time the province surpassed 1,000 daily cases was last Saturday, when 1,026 were reported.
Alberta also saw eight additional deaths from the disease.
A man in his 30s from the Edmonton zone was among the eight deaths reported Thursday, as well as a man in his 70s from the Edmonton zone. Neither death was linked to a continuing care or acute care outbreak.
A man in his 70s linked to the outbreak at at Extendicare Eaux Claires in the Edmonton zone died.
A man in his 70s linked to the outbreak at Edmonton’s Grey Nuns Community Hospital also passed. In total, there have been six deaths connected to the outbreak at the Grey Nuns.
The other four deaths occurred in the Calgary zone, and included a woman in her 80s linked to the outbreak at Agecare Skypointe, a man in his 80s linked to the outbreak at Sage Hill Retirement Residence, a man in his 80s from the Wing Kei Care Centre and a woman in her 90s who was linked to the outbreak at the Bow-Crest, Revera care centre.
There were 284 people in hospital with COVID-19 and of those, 61 were being treated in the ICU.
Active cases of COVID-19 rose Thursday to 10,382 province-wide. Of the active cases, 4,388 were in the Edmonton zone, 4,219 were in the Calgary zone, 658 were in the North zone, 540 were in the South zone, 508 were in the Central zone and 69 were unknown.
Earlier Thursday, the City of Edmonton held an emergency advisory committee meeting, after which Mayor Don Iveson called on the province to bring in stricter measures to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“They have the strongest authority to issue regional health orders, which I have long maintained is the key to tackling the spread of the this virus in our metropolitan context,” Iveson said.
Alberta has now confirmed 42,797 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began and 451 deaths from the disease.