By Sheldon Spackman

Monday Update

Active COVID case counts still climbing in Red Deer

Apr 12, 2021 | 5:30 PM

Premier Jason Kenney urged Albertans on Monday to hold on a little longer with current COVID-19 restrictions until more people receive the vaccine.

He noted the province has opened what it calls rapid flow vaccination clinics in Grande Prairie, Fort McMurray, Red Deer, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

Mega clinics, able to administer up to one-thousand doses per hour, also opened on Monday in Edmonton and Calgary.

Kenney says half the population should have shots by the end of May, two-thirds by the end of June and three-quarters by mid-September. As of April 9, 847,630 does of COVID vaccine have been administered in Alberta.

Meantime, More than two dozen new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Red Deer over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of active cases in the city now to 269, up 26 from Sunday.

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The number of cases identified in Red Deer since the start of the pandemic is 3,368 with 3,065 of those now recovered.

Provincially, Alberta is reporting 1,136 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total number of active cases in the province to 14,849. That’s up 556 from Sunday.

679 new variant cases were also reported on Monday, bringing the total number of active variant cases in the province to 7,620 or 51.3 per cent of active cases.

With 12,286 tests conducted over the past 24 hours, the number of those coming back positive is roughly 9.2 per cent.

390 Albertans are currently in hospital with COVID-19, up 14 from Sunday, while 90 of those patients are in ICU – the same as Sunday.

There have been five additional deaths reported to Alberta Health in the last 24 hours, bringing the virus’ death toll in our province to 2,018.

· Date of death: April 8. A male in his 50s in Edmonton Zone. The case included comorbidities.

· Date of death: April 10. A female in her 60s in Edmonton Zone. The case included comorbidities.

· Date of death: April 10. A female in her 70s in Edmonton Zone. There are no known comorbidities at this time.

· Date of death: April 11. A female in her 80s linked to the outbreak at The Hamlets at Red Deer in Central Zone. The case included comorbidities.

· Date of death: April 11. A male in his 70s in Edmonton Zone. The case included comorbidities.

Active cases across Central Zone

Red Deer County: 66 (+1)

Sylvan Lake: 35 (+2)

Lacombe County: 63 (+1)

City of Lacombe: 56 (+4)

Ponoka County: 189 (-9)

Clearwater County: 10 (-1)

Brazeau County: 27 (+1)

Mountain View County: 50 (-)

Olds: 47 (+2)

Kneehill County: 25 (+4)

County of Stettler: 8 (–)

Elsewhere throughout the province, Alberta Health Services (AHS) Calgary Zone is reporting 6,802 active cases of coronavirus, with Edmonton Zone reporting 3,688, North Zone 1,970, Central Zone 1,311 and South Zone with 949. There are 129 additional active cases of COVID-19 in unconfirmed locations.

As of Monday, AHS Central Zone has 39 COVID-19 patients in hospital, with seven of those in ICU at Red Deer Regional Hospital.

With files from the Canadian Press