Alberta COVID-19 hospitalizations continue downward trend

Alberta reported 1,380 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Tuesday, including 95 patients in intensive care.

The numbers are down from the last update on Friday, when 1,494 Albertans were in hospital, 116 of them in ICU.

Full reporting of COVID-19 case data from the weekend was unavailable Tuesday.Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, said on Twitter thata network change over the weekend caused unintended IT issues,

Vaccine data and outbreak reporting have not been impacted, the government said.

The government provided these estimates of new confirmed cases in the four days from Friday until Monday:

• 760 cases on Feb. 18 (positivity rate about 22 per cent)
• 475 cases on Feb. 19(positivity rate about 20 per cent)
• 475 cases on Feb. 20 (positivity rate about 25 per cent)
• 400 cases on Feb. 21 (positivity rate about 20 per cent)

Fullreporting is expected to resume Wednesday, including a daily breakdown of positive tests conducted from Friday through Tuesday.

Case counts are based on PCR testing done by provincial bodies like Alberta Health Services.

Those tests are no longer widely available, instead are reserved for high-priority groups and people in higher-risk settings, such as health-care workers.

As of Sunday, 8,470,872 vaccine doses had been administered in Alberta, an increase of more than 15,000 since Thursday.

The province's COVID-19 death toll stood at 3,830 on Friday. New death numbers were not provided Tuesday.

Premier Jason KenneysaidMonday thatthe governmentwill announce itsfinal decision on Feb. 26 about whether it will proceedto phase two of its plan to lift almost all restrictions on March 1.