Health Minister Tyler Shandro. (Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko

Alberta approves COVID rapid tests as 1,077 cases confirmed Thursday

Nov 26, 2020 | 4:30 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Alberta Health Services has released Thursday’s report on COVID-19, covering statistics from the past 24 hours.

1,077 cases were confirmed across the province, bringing the total to 51,878. Of those, 14,052 cases are active while 37,216 people have recovered.

44 of the new cases were in the South Health Zone. Locally, Lethbridge and the M.D. of Taber had the most at 10 each while nine tested positive in Medicine Hat.

Since yesterday’s update, 10 Albertans have died from COVID-19 including six in the Edmonton Zone, two in the Calgary Zone, and one each in the South and North Zones. To date, the virus has claimed 510 lives in Alberta.

The person who passed in the South Zone was a resident of Medicine Hat.

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Provincially, 383 patients are currently hospitalized and 84 have been admitted to intensive care.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced that Alberta will soon be adopting two forms of Point of Care rapid COVID-19 testing in December.

“We’ll be rolling out the Abbot ID Now as well as the Abbot PANBIO COVID-19 testing kits, which have both been approved by Health Canada.”

The ID Now kit is designed to provide results in 13 minutes or less while the PANBIO kit should provide results in approximately 15 minutes.

Between the two types, 577,000 have or will be received in the province.

“They require swabs to be taken by a health professional, so to be clear, they’re not rapid home test kits.”

The kits are meant for those who have shown COVID-19 symptoms in the last seven days.

Clinical pilots will begin shortly in assessment centres in Calgary, Edmonton, Slave Lake, and St. Paul before potentially becoming more widely available.

The regional breakdown for COVID-19 in Alberta is as follows:

• Calgary zone – 21,474 cases, 5,126 active
  • 190 deaths (two new)
  • 132 in hospital, 23 in ICU
• Edmonton zone – 20,711 cases, 6,444 active
  • 221 deaths (six new)
  • 191 in hospital, 47 in ICU
• South zone – 3,658 cases, 664 active
  • 40 deaths (one new)
  • 21 in hospital, six in ICU
• North zone – 3,485 cases, 789 active
  • 45 deaths (one new)
  • 19 in hospital, three in ICU
• Central zone – 2,379 cases, 947 active
  • 14 deaths
  • 20 in hospital, five in ICU

The breakdown for the South Health Zone by community is as follows:

• Brooks – 1,274 cases (two new), 42 active, 12 deaths
• Lethbridge – 920 cases (10 new), 195 active, seven deaths
  • West Lethbridge – 363 cases (five new), 63 active, two deaths
  • South Lethbridge – 305 cases (four new), 63 active, three deaths
  • North Lethbridge – 252 cases (one new), 69 active, two deaths
• Lethbridge County – 307 cases (two new), 68 active, two deaths
• Medicine Hat – 240 cases (nine new), 102 active, three deaths (one new)
• M.D. of Taber – 223 cases (10 new), 108 active, two deaths
• Cardston County – 161 cases (four new), 38 active, five deaths
• Cypress County – 114 cases (one new), 28 active
• County of Warner – 103 cases, 21 active, one death
• County of Forty Mile – 100 cases (four new), 21 active, one death
• County of Newell – 98 cases (one new), 16 active, two deaths
• Fort Macleod – 47 cases, seven active, three deaths
• M.D. of Pincher Creek – 36 cases (one new), four active, two deaths
• Crowsnest Pass – Five cases, two active