Active COVID infections see slight increase as seven new Omicron cases are ID’d in Alberta

Alberta recorded a weekend of rising COVID infections which saw a handful of Omicron cases identified as well.

Seven new infections of the variant were reported on Monday, bringing the total number of reported cases of that variant to 30.

In total, Alberta reported 863 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend. The new case numbers come after nearly 21,000 tests were completed for a positivity rate of around 4.1 per cent for the weekend.

NEW:

– 3 new COVID deaths over past 72 hours

Fri: 373 cases/8587 tests (4.3%+)
Sat: 288 cases/6483 tests (4.4%+)
Sun: 202 cases/ 5743 tests (3.5%+)

– 357 in hospital (-10), inc 68 in ICU (-3)
– 4182 active cases (+123)#yeg #Yyc #ableg #Covid19ab pic.twitter.com/7f0mmWWAT5

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) December 13, 2021

Active cases of COVID did see a slight increase over the last three days.

There are now 4,182 active infections in Alberta — a rise of 123 cases from last week’s update.

As for severe outcomes of COVID-19, there are now 357 people in hospital with the virus, 68 of which are in the ICU.

Alberta Health also reporting three additional deaths were recorded over the weekend.

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On the vaccination front, more than 12,000 kids aged five to 11 in Alberta got their COVID vaccine over the weekend.

To date, more than 91,000 kids have received their shot — making up about 23.3 per cent of that age group.

As for the rest of the Alberta population, roughly 89.2 per cent have received one dose of the COVID vaccine, while 84.8 per cent are fully immunized.

More than 7.14 million doses of vaccine have been administered to date.

Easing restrictions announcement could come Tuesday

Last week, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney teased the possibility of having restrictions eased ahead of the holidays.

Kenney said he expected the province to reach a goal of no more than 173 ICU beds in use by Tuesday.

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“That’s why we think it is the right time for us to potentially move forward with some modest, common sense relaxation of measures for the Christmas holidays,” he said.

Despite active cases of COVID slightly increasing through the weekend, hospitalization numbers did decrease, which could have positive implications for Tuesday’s COVID update.

The premier had said he personally has plans to gather with three family members from three households which wouldn’t be allowed under current public health protocols.

He adds that the province would have to be very careful with how it approaches the easing of measures as the new Omicron variant makes its way into the province.