Alberta Health reported that 36 more people were in hospitals receiving care for COVID-19 on Friday than Thursday.
A total of 822 people were in the hospital as of Friday afternoon with the illness, with 81 of those people receiving ICU care.
Read more:
Alberta post-secondary institutions will continue online learning through February
The province also reported that five additional deaths had been reported in the last 24 hours.
Two deaths occurred in the Edmonton area: an 80-year-old woman with pre-existing conditions and a 90-year-old woman with no pre-existing conditions.
There were two who died in the Calgary area: a man in his 80s and a man in his 90s, both with underlying conditions.
The last dead was a man in his 80s in the South zone. Alberta Health says he didn’t have any pre-existing conditions.
To date, 3,380 Albertans have died from COVID-19.
Alberta has made major changes to PCR testing criteria in recent weeks, limiting access to testing to those who live or work in high-risk areas. The average Albertan can no longer receive a PCR test, which means the total number of active COVID-19 cases in Alberta is believed to be much higher than the province is reporting.
Last week, Chief Medical Officer for Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said a conservative estimate is that the province is detecting one in 10 positive cases.
Read more:
Other data to shed light on COVID trends in Alberta in the absence of broad PCR testing: Hinshaw
On Friday, the province reported an additional 6,163 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19, another pandemic record for Alberta. There were a total of 64,129 confirmed active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta on Friday afternoon.
By Hinshaw’s estimate, that means there are likely at least 640,000 active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta.
The province also reported that an additional 232 cases of COVID-19 related to the Omicron variant had been confirmed in the past 24 hours.
As of Friday, there have been 436,495 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Alberta. To date, 368,986 of those confirmed cases have been recovered.
On Friday, the province announced that more than eight million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in Alberta.
To date, 89.7% of Albertans age 12 and older have received one dose, 85.7% of those age 12 and older have received two doses, and 158,000 children ages 5-11 have received your first dose of the pediatric vaccine.
Since booster eligibility was opened to everyone over the age of 18, 1.2 million third doses have been administered.
Read more:
An Alberta parent expresses frustration over baggy, ill-fitting medical masks sent home with students
“I am proud that (Alberta Health Services) and pharmacies have responded to the increased demand for vaccines by quickly and safely delivering doses to Albertans who need them,” said Health Minister Jason Copping, in a press release.
“Vaccines are an important part of our efforts to prevent hospitals and ICUs from being overwhelmed with new cases of COVID-19, so it is critical that all Albertans continue to receive every dose for which they are eligible.” .
Those who wish to reserve a COVID-19 vaccine can do so by calling 811 or visiting the province’s website.
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Reference-globalnews.ca