Prime Minister Jason Kenny and Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Dean Xinshou, will brief Albertans today on COVID-19 and continue efforts to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant.
Kenny and Hinshou will speak today at 3:30 p.m. Watch the press conference here.
The province reported 23 new deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total number to 3,505 since the pandemic began.
On Wednesday, 1,418 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 – the highest pandemic for the fifth day in a row.
Of those hospitalized, 109 are being treated in intensive care units.
Across the region, ICU capacity, including additional beds, is 80 percent. Without the use of additional voltage gaps, the regional ICU capacity is 112 percent.
The positive rate on Wednesday was about 37.5 percent, slightly above the seven-day average of 36.85 percent.
The number of known active cases is currently 47,743, but that number includes only laboratory-confirmed cases and is part of the actual number of infections in Alberta.
Alberta Health confirmed on Wednesday that approximately three cases of Omicron subvariant BA.2 were identified through continuous genetic monitoring involving genome sequencing in the province.