Military critical care nurses heading home from Edmonton hospital

Nine Canadian Armed Forces nurses who have been helping care for COVID-19 patients at an Edmonton hospital are on their way back to their home units.

The military says the nurses, who began arriving in Albertaon Oct. 4, were scheduled to remain in Edmonton until today.

A tweet from the military on Friday said they would now be heading home.

They were deployed following a Request for Assistance from the Alberta government onSept.22, spurred by rising COVID-19 hospitaland intensive care unit admissions.

As of Friday's update, there are 8,158 known active COVID-19 cases in Albertaand780 people being treated for the illness in hospital

As of Saturday, there were 243 patients in ICU, about two thirds of whom are COVID-positive, according to the Alberta Health Services website.

ICU capacity in Alberta, with the additional surge beds, was at 76 per cent as of Saturday, AHS said. Without the surge beds, ICU capacity would be at 140 per cent.