By Troy Gillard

20 NEW CASES ON MONDAY

State of public health emergency over in Alberta

Jun 15, 2020 | 3:54 PM

Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced Monday that Alberta’s state of public emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has expired.

“We’ve come a long way since the state of emergency was declared on March 15,” he said, adding the past three months have been difficult as Albertans have made sacrifices and adapted to a “new normal.”

“We faced an enormous test, and we passed with flying colours,” he said.

Shandro was clear that even though the state of emergency is lapsing, it does not remove or impact the existing orders Dr. Deena Hinshaw has put in place. It also has no effect on her ability to issue more orders in the days ahead, if needed.

“COVID is still with us and we must all still remain vigilant,” said Shandro.

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The announcement comes as the province confirmed 20 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the overall total to 7,453.

The number of active cases in Alberta continues to rise and now sits at 440, up from 422 on Sunday.

However, the number of hospitalizations has gone down noticeably to 31 on Monday from 46 on Sunday. Seven people in Alberta are currently in ICU because of COVID-19.

An additional death from the virus was confirmed on Monday to bring Alberta’s total to 151.

In the Central Zone the number of active cases is down to two and the overall number of cases is 88.

There remains one active case of COVID-19 in Red Deer, while there are no active cases in Red Deer County, Lacombe County, Lacombe, Ponoka County, County of Stettler and Clearwater County.

Hinshaw said health officials are closely watching any gatherings where physical distancing guidelines are not followed.

“Social events where people are not keeping two metres distant or wearing masks are high-risk activities,” said the chief medical officer of health. “We are not seeing patterns of spread at this point linked to casual contact or public places,” she said.

She added the “success of our relaunch is anchored in all of us doing our part, and the measures in place will get us there.”

(With file from Chris Brown)