EDMONTON – The Covid situation in Alberta remains of total emergency. Also on Friday, the last day on which the data were disclosed, the province recorded over 1,200 new infections: 1,256 to be precise (and 16 deaths) against the 1,254 (and 10 deaths) of Thursday and the 1,263 (and 26 deaths) of Wednesday. Most of the people who died on Friday were between 70 and 80, two in their fifties, one in their sixties, another in their nineties. In total, 2,830 Alberta residents have died of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. 

The total number of known active cases in Alberta is now 17,839, divided regionally as follows: Calgary area 4,359, Edmonton area 4,204, central area 3,690, north area 3,597, south area 1,972, unknown area 17.

The new cases announced on Friday were detected on 14,736 tests conducted in the previous 24 hours. Alberta’s positivity rate is 8.68%.

The number of people hospitalized for Covid-19 increases. There are 1,101 hospital admissions, including 250 patients in intensive care units. Of the 851 non-ICU patients, 73.9 percent are either unvaccinated or not partially vaccinated; 89.6% of ICU patients are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr Deena Hinshaw pointed out on Twitter.

Hinshaw herself and Alberta Prime Minister Jason Kenney both launched an appeal to Alberta residents over the weekend, inviting them to limit the size of convivial meetings during Thanksgiving as much as possible. “Our choices matter. It is critically important that we all make the safest choices this weekend,” said Hinshaw. We will know soon, in the coming days, if the appeal has fallen on deaf ears or not.

As of Friday’s update, 75.5% of eligible Albanians have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 84.9% have received at least one dose. Another appeal was launched on Twitter by Alberta Health Services, which asked everyone to avoid, if possible, going to the emergency room, given the situation of hospitals under siege for Covid-19. “Most injuries are predictable and preventable. Avoid visits to the ER,” wrote AHS, reporting a “vademecum” on how to prevent home or similar accidents at www.albertahealthservices.ca

On the vaccine front, to try to stem the spread of the virus, the Province has extended eligibility for the recalls (third dose) of Covid-19 this week to all Alberta inhabitants aged 75 years or older and to indigenous people aged 65 or over.

There is no sign of improving the situation in Saskatchewan either, which on Sunday recorded 507 new cases of Covid-19 and 1 death. With the 502 cases reported on Saturday, Saskatchewan therefore exceeded a thousand cases in just two days. And of the new infections, 95% concern people not fully vaccinated. As many as 333 people hospitalized in Saskatchewan hospitals, including 79 intensive care patients. A total of 4,703 cases are currently considered active. Since the start of the pandemic, the province has recorded 72,033 cases, 66,583 healings and 747 deaths.

The neighboring Manitoba travels around one hundred cases per day (95 Wednesday, 132 Thursday and 130 Friday). The known active cases are 927. 61,385 cases registered since the beginning of the pandemic, 59,241 recoveries and 1,217 deaths.

In British Columbia, the daily average is around 700 cases: 743 cases were recorded on Friday, 624 on Thursday and 752 on Wednesday. The known active cases are 5,969. Since the start of the pandemic, British Columbia has recorded 192,491 cases, 184,121 recoveries and 2,001 deaths.

Pic from the Twitter profile of Alberta Health Services