Alberta confirms a record 4,752 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday

Alberta confirmed an additional 4,752 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.

As the province is no longer offering widespread PCR testing, that number is likely higher.

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In the past 24 hours, the province administered around 12,000 tests. The positivity rate was 36.9 per cent.

Wednesday’s daily case number and positivity rate were both record highs, according to Dr. Deena Hinshaw.

“I know the rampant spread of Omicron has made this a challenging start to 2022 for many Albertans,” the chief medical officer of health told reporters.

There were 470 people receiving care for COVID-19 in the hospital Wednesday, up from 436 on Tuesday, with 72 of those people in the ICU. There were 61 people in the ICU Tuesday.

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An additional 11 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours.

“My thoughts and sympathies are with the family and friends left behind to mourn these people and anyone who has recently lost a loved one to any cause,” Hinshaw said.

Five of the reported deaths were in the Calgary zone: a woman in her 60s, a man and a woman in their 80s and a woman in her 100s with pre-existing conditions and a man in his 70s with no pre-existing conditions.

Three of the deaths were in the Edmonton zone: a man in his 60s, a man in his 50s and a man in his 70s all with pre-existing conditions.

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Elsewhere around the province, a man in his 70s in the North zone, a man in his 70s in the Central Zone and a man in his 80s in the South zone have died. All three men had pre-existing conditions.

There have now been 3,333 COVID-19 deaths in Alberta.

There were 37,196 confirmed active cases Wednesday.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 384,126 confirmed cases in Alberta. To date, 343,597 of those people have recovered.