388 new COVID-19 cases identified in Alberta Wednesday, 6 are Omicron

Alberta Health announced Wednesday that 388 new COVID-19 cases have been identified in the province over the past 24 hours, with six of the new cases involving the Omicron variant.

The new figures bring the province’s total number of coronavirus cases involving the Omicron variant to 17, while the total number of active COVID-19 cases in Alberta was at 4,140 on Wednesday afternoon.

According to the provincial government’s website, the positivity rate in Alberta is at 3.65 per cent.

Four more deaths have been linked to COVID-19 in Alberta. On Wednesday afternoon, Alberta Health said the total number of people in the province to have died of the coronavirus is now at 3,272.

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As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 373 people being treated in Alberta hospitals with COVID-19, with 68 of those in intensive care units. The ICU numbers were lower than a day earlier when there were 76 coronavirus patients receiving intensive care.

AHS addresses misinformation regarding kids and COVID-19 vaccination

Alberta Health Services issued a series of tweets on Wednesday to respond to misinformation that the health authority said has been going around about pediatric COVID-19 vaccinations.

“We are aware of misinformation that a number of children are being hospitalized at Alberta’s Children’s Hospital with adverse events following their COVID-19 vaccination,” the health authority tweeted. “At this time, AHS has not had any pediatric hospitalizations related to COVID-19 vaccination.

“Of the nearly seven-million doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered in Alberta as of Dec. 5, 2021, there have been reports of adverse events from 2,036 individuals.”

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AHS also noted that as of Nov. 26, 2021, nearly 60-million doses of vaccine have been administered in Canada.

“Of those, serious adverse events were reported in 0.011 per cent of all doses administered Canada-wide,” AHS tweeted. “Vaccines safely protect individuals, including children, from getting sick or spreading the virus to family and friends.”