Active COVID-19 count increases slightly as Alberta records 81 new cases Wednesday

There has been a slight increase in the number of active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta.

There are now 649 active cases of COVID-19 — up from 606 on Tuesday.

Of those active cases, 378 are in the Calgary zone, 128 are in the Edmonton zone, 63 are in the North zone, 46 are in the Central zone and 34 are in the South zone.

Alberta recorded 81 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, after more than 6,400 tests were completed.

Hospitalizations from the disease remained stable Wednesday, with 95 people in hospital. Of those, 27 are being treated in intensive care.

There were no additional COVID-19-related deaths reported to Alberta Health in the last 24 hours.

Alberta’s vaccination rate remained relatively unchanged from Tuesday to Wednesday, with 74.9 per cent of eligible Albertans having received one dose of vaccine and 63.7 per cent fully immunized.

Alberta Health released its latest data on the effectiveness of vaccines Wednesday, which shows that since Jan. 1, 96 per cent of all confirmed cases of COVID-19 were in people either unvaccinated or diagnosed within two weeks of receiving their first dose.

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Since Jan. 1, 86.8 per cent of COVID-19 deaths were in unvaccinated people or people who were diagnosed within two weeks of receiving their first dose.

Since June 1, 91 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in Alberta and 95 per cent of hospital and ICU admissions were in those who did not have two doses of vaccine, according to the province.

According to Alberta Health, one dose of vaccine has proven to be 57 per cent effective against the Delta variant, while two doses have proven to be 85 per cent effective.

Against the Alpha variant, two doses has proven to be 91 per cent effective.

Earlier Wednesday, Alberta Health Services announced it will be closing two rapid-flow COVID-19 vaccine clinics by the end of the month.

The Edmonton Expo Centre location will close at 8 p.m. on July 29, while the Telus Convention Centre site in Calgary will close at 8 p.m. on July 30.

AHS said the province will shift to focus on smaller, community-based immunization clinics.

Since opening, the Edmonton site has provided 143,707 immunizations, while more than 400,000 doses have been administered at the Calgary site.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Alberta has confirmed 232,956 cases of COVID-19 and 229,989 of those people have recovered.