Alberta’s chief medical officer of health said Wednesday that 74.3 per cent of Albertans 12 and over have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and that 56.5 per cent have been given two doses.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw said in a series of messages on Twitter that the province identified 46 new cases of COVID-19 out of about 6,800 tests, putting Alberta’s positivity rate at about 0.68 per cent.
There were 113 Albertans in hospital with the novel coronavirus, including 33 being treated in ICU.
One additional death was reported in the last 24 hours, increasing Alberta’s death toll from the virus to 2,311 since the pandemic started.
As of Wednesday, there were 569 active COVID-19 cases in Alberta, a drop from 599 active cases on Tuesday.
Of those active cases, 283 are in the Calgary zone, 113 in the Edmonton zone and 102 in the North zone.
Northern Alberta has the lowest rate of first-dose immunization. In High Level, just 15.3 per cent of eligible Albertans have received at least one dose of vaccine. To compare, in St. Albert, 72.5 per cent of eligible people have received their first dose.
Earlier Wednesday, the province announced new prizes for its vaccine lottery. Any Albertan who is fully vaccinated by mid-September can enter.
Prizes from the lottery — which is separate from the previously announced Open for Summer Lottery — include hunting and fishing licences, Alberta Parks camping experiences, Canmore Nordic Centre ski passes, Kananaskis Conservation Passes and a special licence hunting tag for bighorn sheep, trophy pronghorn, elk or turkey.
One winner will also receive a receive a combination package consisting of a wildlife certificate and lifetime white-tailed deer and game bird licences — enabling the winner to hunt for those species for the rest of their lives without paying for a new licence each year.
A lifetime sport fishing licence is also up for grabs.