By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

saturday update

Province adds 70 variant cases, Red Deer down to 115 active

Mar 13, 2021 | 4:00 PM

Alberta added 474 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday with a positivity rate of ~5.3 per cent and 8,873 tests completed.

The number of active cases in the province is 4,594, up 48. Recoveries are up 421 to a total of 131,502. There have been a total of 138,036 confirmed cases.

There are now 254 Albertans in hospital due to COVID-19, down three from Friday, including 35 in intensive care, down three.

Five additional COVID-19 deaths were also reported to Alberta Health in the last 24 hours to bring the province’s total to 1,940. The deaths occurred between March 10-12, with four in Edmonton Zone and one in Central Zone.

As of Saturday, there have been 854 total variant cases of COVID-19 in the province, an increase of 70 over the past day, including 839 cases of the UK variant. There have been 161 variant cases, up 15, identified in Central Zone, all of them the UK version.

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Alberta has administered 346,135 doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of March 12, up 12,756 in one day.

On Saturday afternoon, Alberta Health Services issued a statement:

“Alberta Health Services is nearing the maximum number of bookings it can schedule for the current supply of the Covishield/AstraZeneca vaccine. Eligible Albertans are encouraged to book their appointments online or by calling HealthLink at 811 until 4 p.m. on Sunday. After that time, bookings for any remaining doses of Covishield/AstraZeneca will be available only through 811. Albertans who were born in 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, and 1961, and First Nations, Métis and Inuit people born in 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, and 1976 are eligible for Covishield/AstraZeneca. There will not be another birth year opening at this time, due to the limited number of doses remaining. We anticipate additional Covishield/AstraZeneca vaccine this spring. Calgary and Edmonton have limited appointments remaining. There are appointments available in regional and rural areas. If you choose to receive this vaccine, you may need to travel outside your home community to receive it.”

Alberta received an initial allotment of 58,500 doses of Covishield/AstraZeneca, and still anticipates all Albertans over 18 having the chance to receive at least a first immunization by the end of June.

Locally, the number of active cases in Red Deer continues trending downward and now sits at 115 as of Saturday, a decrease of nine over the past 24 hours.

The current active caseload is the lowest in Red Deer since there were 112 on Nov. 21.

There have now been 2,739 recoveries, an increase of 14, with the total number of cases attributed to Red Deer rose by five to 2,885.

As of Saturday, Alberta Health is reporting 10 active cases of COVID-19 stemming from the outbreak at Olymel, which was declared in November. 518 total cases have been identified there, and there have been three deaths.

Active cases across Central Zone as of Saturday

Red Deer County: 19 (-4)

Sylvan Lake: 12 (–)

Lacombe County: 32 (-3)

City of Lacombe: 20 (-3)

Ponoka County: 75 (+6)

Clearwater County: 29 (+5)

Brazeau County: 2 (–)

Mountain View County: 18 (-2)

Olds: 12 (-1)

Kneehill County: 4 (–)

County of Stettler: 3 (+2)

The Central Zone has 451 active cases, up 18 from Friday, and 24 hospitalizations, down three. Five people are receiving intensive care for COVID-19 at Red Deer Regional Hospital, down three. The zone has recorded 118 deaths, one of which was reported today, involving a male in his 80s with comorbidities.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw will provide her next live update on Mar. 15.

RELATED: Alberta’s vaccination program moves to Phase 2A on Monday