The number of active COVID-19 cases in Alberta rose slightly Thursday to 578, up from 569 the day before.
However, the number of Albertans in hospital with COVID-19 declined. As of Thursday, there were 107 people in hospital, 31 of whom were being treated in ICU.
To compare, on Wednesday there were 113 Albertans in hospital, including 33 being treated in ICU.
One additional COVID-19 death was reported to Alberta Health on Thursday.
A single fatality occurred on Dec. 18, 2020 and did not involve comorbidities. A woman in her 60s in the Calgary zone passed away.
The province confirmed 53 new cases of the disease in the last 24 hours and conducted about 6,200 tests. That puts Alberta’s positivity rate at about 0.67 per cent.
Alberta Health said 33 variant cases were identified on July 14.
It’s been about two weeks since the province lifted nearly all public health restrictions.
Several doctors Global News spoke to said they are encouraged by the low number of COVID-19 cases, but added it is too early to make any conclusions.
“I think the big difference here is our numbers are low and we are getting a significant proportion of the population vaccinated,” said Dr. Stephanie Smith, an infectious disease physician at the University of Alberta Hospital. “I think that gives us a lot more hope the numbers will continue to be low.”
As of July 14, Alberta had administered 4,947,062 doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
According to Alberta Health, 74.4 per cent of Albertans 12 and older have received at least one dose and 57.1 per cent have been fully vaccinated.
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