1,204 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 7 additional deaths reported

The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 in Alberta declined slightly on Thursday to 1,204. That’s a drop from 1,231 patients in hospital with the disease on Wednesday.

Of the people in hospital, 80 are being treated in intensive care. That’s a slight decline from 84 patients in Alberta ICUs on Wednesday.

In the last 24 hours, seven additional COVID-related deaths were reported to Alberta Health, bringing the province’s death toll to 3,946 people since the pandemic began.

Alberta reported 539 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 from 2,846 tests. The positivity rate was 21.61 per cent.

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The number of lab-confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 also dropped slightly to 7,945 Thursday, from 8,164 on Wednesday.

Because of limited access to PCR testing, health officials have said the number of new and active cases in the province is higher than what’s being reported.