Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw. (Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko

456 new COVID cases in Alberta with just 17 in South Zone

Jan 19, 2021 | 3:47 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Alberta Health Services has released its COVID-19 update for Tuesday, detailing the numbers compiled over the past 24 hours.

456 cases were confirmed across the province, bringing the total to 117,767. Of those, 11,096 cases are active while 105,208 people have recovered.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw says the provincial positivity rate for today’s numbers is around 5.6 per cent.

“Our positivity rate is declining but it is still far above the one-to-three per cent that we saw for most of the summer and fall. The numbers fluctuate on a daily basis but we continue to see an overall decline in our testing numbers from last month. We don’t know all the reasons for this, but one factor could be fewer people getting sick.”

In the South Zone, 17 people contracted the virus including five in Lethbridge.

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Active infections across the region and locally fell slightly.

Since yesterday’s update, 16 Albertans died from COVID including seven in the Calgary Zone, five in the Central Zone, and two each in the Edmonton and North Zones. To date, the virus has claimed the lives of 1,463.

Provincially, 740 patients are currently hospitalized and 119 have been admitted to intensive care.

“It’s natural to want to get back to all the things we missed during the last six weeks, however, our health system is still under severe strain with 740 people still in hospital. This continues to impact our ability to deliver care, not only for COVID-19, but all the other health needs that Albertans have,” says Dr. Hinshaw.

“I know this is challenging, but we all must continue supporting each other by doing everything possible to reduce the spread of COVID and to protect our health system for a little while longer. The more successful we can be at this reduction, the sooner we’re in a position where we can consider safely and slowly relaxing other measures in the days as weeks ahead.”

With another 8,258 tests conducted over the past day, there has now been a total of 3,037,183 tests completed on 1,719,560 different people.

Below is a graph of how COVID-19 cases in Alberta have trended since the start of the pandemic, which can also be accessed with more detail here.

COVID-19 cases in Alberta. (Supplied by Alberta Health Services)

Below is a breakdown of cases per health zone:

• Edmonton Zone – 49,411 cases, 3,875 active
  • 365 in hospital, 47 in ICU
  • 762 deaths (two new)
• Calgary Zone – 45,085 cases, 4,249 active
  • 214 in hospital, 50 in ICU
  • 470 deaths (seven new)
• North Zone – 9,303 cases, 1,499 active
  • 75 in hospital, eight in ICU
  • 90 deaths (two new)
• Central Zone – 8,282 cases, 1,050 active
  • 58 in hospital, nine in ICU
  • 75 deaths (five new)
• South Zone – 5,558 cases, 407 active
  • 28 in hospital, five in ICU
  • 66 deaths

Below is a breakdown of cases in the South Health Zone:

• Brooks – 1,361 cases, eight active, 14 deaths
• Lethbridge – 1,592 cases (five new), 141 active, 10 deaths
  • West Lethbridge – 574 cases (one new), 40 active, two deaths
  • South Lethbridge – 536 cases (four new), 65 active, seven deaths
  • North Lethbridge – 484 cases, 36 active, one death
• Medicine Hat – 516 cases, 35 active, 11 deaths
• Lethbridge County – 487 cases (three new), 25 active, seven deaths
• Cardston County – 401 cases (three new), 105 active, six deaths
• M.D. of Taber – 325 cases (one new), eight active, six deaths
• County of Warner – 155 cases (one new), nine active, two deaths
• County of Newell – 152 cases (two new), seven active, two deaths
• M.D. of Pincher Creek – 147 cases (one new), 29 active, three deaths
• Cypress County – 144 cases, three active, zero deaths
• County of Forty Mile – 116 cases, two active, two deaths
• Fort Macleod – 89 cases (one new), 19 active, three deaths
• Crowsnest Pass – 18 cases, six active, zero deaths