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Alberta reports 415 new cases of COVID-19, 6 deaths

Health-care workers attend to a ICU COVID-19 patient at Peter Lougheed Centre on Nov. 14, 2020. Hospitalizations continue to trend downward in Alberta, but daily new cases have increased over the past two weeks.  (Submitted by AHS/Leah Hennel - image credit)
Health-care workers attend to a ICU COVID-19 patient at Peter Lougheed Centre on Nov. 14, 2020. Hospitalizations continue to trend downward in Alberta, but daily new cases have increased over the past two weeks. (Submitted by AHS/Leah Hennel - image credit)

Alberta reported 415 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday and six more deaths from the illness.

The number of active cases increased by 41 across the province, according to the latest update from Alberta Health, bringing the total to 4,546. Active cases have been trending up since over the past two weeks, after the daily average dropped to around 300 cases in mid-February.

Cases of COVID-19 virus variants, of the kind that first surfaced in the U.K., increased by 30 to 393, the latest numbers show.

Hospitalizations dropped by seven to 262 on Saturday, including 51 people who are being treated for COVID-19 in intensive care units.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province's chief medical officer, often notes that hospitalization rates regularly follow the trend of active cases, but are delayed by one to two weeks.

An additional 11,396 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered since the last update. As of Saturday, 218,696 doses had been administered, with 85,442 Albertans fully immunized with a second shot.

Of the six reported deaths Saturday, two were women in their 90s linked to the outbreak at Bethany Meadows long-term care facility in Camrose. A man in his 40s from the South Zone died in connection to the outbreak at The Valleyview long-term care facility in Medicine Hat.

While Alberta Health would not provide further information about the man's connection to the long-term care facility, the number of health-care workers who have died from COVID-19 remained unchanged, at six, according to Saturday's numbers.

Other reported deaths included a man in his 50s and a woman in her 60s, both from the Calgary Zone, as well as a man in his 80s connected to the outbreak at the Revera Aspen Ridge supportive living site in Red Deer.

Since the outset of the pandemic, 1,883 people have died from COVID-19 in Alberta.

Here is the breakdown of active cases by health zone:

  • Calgary zone: 1,545

  • Edmonton zone: 926

  • Central zone: 702

  • South zone: 314

  • North zone: 1,044

  • Unknown: 15