Alberta records 13 additional deaths from COVID-19, along with 573 new cases

Alberta reported 573 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, and 13 more deaths.

Active cases continue to drop, with 9,727 total cases of the illness in Alberta reported Saturday, a decrease of 260 from Friday.

Hospitalizations also saw a slight decrease, with 676 people in hospital with the illness on Saturday — down 15 from Friday — including 114 in intensive care unit beds. On Friday, there were 691 people in hospital, with 115 in intensive care unit beds.

Provincial labs completed 10,894 tests for the disease on Friday, for a positivity rate of about 5.3 per cent, down fromabout 13,000 tests completed on Thursday. The positivity rate remained about the same from the previous day, which had a positivity rate of five per cent.

Of the 13 deaths reported Saturday, two involved people in their 20s: a man and a woman, both in the Calgary zone.

Three deaths in total were in the Calgary zone, four in the Edmonton zone, four in the North zone, and two in the Central zone. The deaths occurred between Dec. 16 and Jan. 22.

Since the pandemic began last March, there have been 120,330 cases of COVID-19 in Alberta, including 1,525 deaths from the disease.

Here's a regional breakdown of active cases:

• Calgary zone: 3,786

• Edmonton zone: 3,407

• North zone: 1,325

• Central zone: 799

• South zone: 396

• Unknown: 14

An additional 1,022 doses of vaccine had been administered by the end of the day on Friday, bringing the total number of doses administered to 98,807.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, will provide her next in-person COVID-19 update on Monday.