Alberta breaks single-day COVID case record, positivity rate nears 30%

Alberta has broken the record for COVID cases reported in a single day in the province.

On Wednesday, there were 2,775 new cases of the virus reported in Alberta. The new case numbers come after nearly 9,400 tests were completed.

This gives the province a positivity rate of around 29.5 per cent — shattering the record from the previous day.

The positivity rate for Dec 28 was 29.5%, with 2775 cases in 9398 tests.

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) December 29, 2021

The province also released official COVID-19 data ranging from Dec. 23 to Dec. 27.

The official numbers are as follows:

• Dec. 23: 2,010 new cases on 11,549 tests
• Dec. 24: 2,484 new cases on 11,479 tests
• Dec. 25: 1,568 new cases on 7,240 tests
• Dec. 26: 686 new cases on 4,084 tests
• Dec. 27: 1,395 new cases on 6,473 tests

In total, the province identified 10,918 new cases of COVID-19 since Dec. 23. The average positivity rate over the six-day period was roughly 21.7 per cent.

Of the new cases identified in Alberta since before Christmas, 4,388 were the Omicron variant. To date, just over 7,000 cases of that strain have been identified in Alberta.

NEW; Alberta reports 4,388 new Omicron cases over the past six days, bringing the total to 7,025 to date.#yeg #yyc #ableg #covid19ab pic.twitter.com/CWDjwcZCpY

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) December 29, 2021

Currently, there are 17,396 active infections in Alberta. That’s an increase of more than 9,000 cases since the previous update.

As for severe outcomes of the virus, there are now 349 people in hospital, an increase of 31 from the last report. Of those in hospital, 57 are in the ICU, a decrease of seven from Dec. 23.

In the last six days, Alberta Health is reporting eleven more people have died with COVID-19 in the province.

READ MORE:

• Omicron forces Calgary post-secondary students back online

• Several provinces considering allowing COVID-19 positive health workers to stay on job

• ‘I haven’t seen my parents in almost 3 years’: Omicron rampage ruins chance at respite for Calgary doctor

On the vaccination front, 79.1 per cent of all Albertans have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine, while 72.8 per cent now have two doses.

In total, more than 7.59 million doses of COVID vaccine have been administered to date.