Alberta reports over 1,600 new COVID-19 cases for second straight day
Alberta reported 1,616 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, as the province's third wave approaches the height of its second wave in December.
Friday marked the second consecutive day that daily case counts were above 1,600. Of the new cases reported Friday, 898 were variants of concern.
Active cases increased to 16,759 on Friday, up 536 compared to Thursday.
There are 423 people in hospital with the illness. Of those, 93 people are being treated in intensive care.
The province reported no new deaths from COVID-19 Friday.
Healthcare workers administered another 38,821 doses of vaccine Thursday, with nearly 20 per cent of Alberta's population now having received at least one dose.
Here is the breakdown of active cases by health zone:
Calgary zone: 7,453
Edmonton zone: 4,388
North zone: 2,285
Central zone: 1,629
South zone: 928
Unknown: 76
Alberta's test positivity rate has spiked in the past month alongside other leading COVID-19 indicators, now sitting just shy of 10 per cent. The province completed 16,876 COVID-19 tests Thursday.
