Alberta Health announced Thursday that about 4,000 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed over the last 24 hours out of about 13,000 tests. That’s a huge jump from the record-setting 2,775 new cases reported Wednesday.
On Thursday, Alberta’s positivity rate sat at approximately 30 per cent.
There were about 21,000 active cases reported.
There were 371 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, including 48 being treated in ICU.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw says in a post on social media that she’s taking part in a Thursday meeting to discuss the “latest development and trends” with the variant and to determine how to best protect Albertans.
She says that means Thursday’s scheduled COVID-19 update has been moved to Friday.
The cabinet committee is meeting hours after Alberta reported its highest single-day increase of new infections.
A record-setting 2,775 new cases were reported Wednesday, bringing Alberta’s active total to almost 17,400 — more than double the amount from last Thursday.
The Omicron variant is driving rising infections across Canada, with other provinces also setting records.
A new study released in Ontario shows, despite reduced severity of Omicron to result in hospitalization or death, the impacts to the health-care system are likely to be significant.
–With files from Emily Mertz, Global News
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