Alberta public health officials reported more than 50 deaths from COVID-19 in the last reporting week, while the number of people with the disease being treated in hospital and intensive care has declined.
Provincial data show that 55 deaths from COVID-19 were reported from 17 to 23 May. According to Alberta Health, the people who died were between 50 and 90 years old.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been a total of 4507 deaths from COVID.
Hospitalizations have dropped to 1,040, including 31 patients in the intensive care unit, the data show.
At the end of the previous reporting week, there were 1,165 hospital patients, including 42 in the intensive care unit.
“The peak of the BA.2 cases has passed and the current wave is receding,” Health Minister Jason Kopping told a news conference on Wednesday.
“This is good news, especially for the people working in our healthcare system.”
The pass rate for the seven-day PCR test in Alberta was 17.52%, down 19.93% from the previous week.
There were 2,737 new laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 from 17 to 23 May – 269 fewer cases than in the previous reporting week.
However, the amount of virus circulating in the community is thought to be higher because the numbers do not take into account the positive results of the rapid test.
Of all Albert residents, including those not eligible for the vaccine, 77.1% received two doses; 81.4% of the population of the province takes at least one dose.
Case of identified sub-option BA.4: Hinshaw
Dr Dinah Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer, said a case of a sub-variant of Omicron BA.4 had been identified in the province.
“The emergence of new options and sub-options is not surprising. That’s what viruses do,” Hinshaw said.
The World Health Organization began tracking sub-options BA.4 and BA.5 last month. At that time, cases were identified in South Africa, Denmark, Botswana, Scotland and England.
So far, evidence suggests that these sub-options are more portable, “but are in the same plane of gravity” as the original Omicron, Hinshaw said.
Alberta will move to press conferences every two weeks
Due to declining levels of positive PCR tests and hospitalizations for COVID-19, the Alberta government will conduct personal updates every two weeks, Kopping said.
Provincial figures will continue to be updated weekly, but he and Hinshaw will only be on the podium every two weeks, he explained.
The next personal update is currently scheduled for the week of June 6, Koping said.
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