'COVID-19 watch' called in Calgary Centre by Alberta Health

Section of downtown Calgary under health watch A COVID-19 watch has been issued in the city, likely due an outbreak at a condo. Tyson Fedor has details.

Calgary — Alberta has called a COVID-19 watch in a Calgary health region as the number of coronavirus cases connected to an outbreak at a condo continues to grow.

Alberta Health upgraded the status in Calgary-Centre Saturday after the number of cases met the threshold requirement as listed on its website.

This means that provincial authorities are now in contact with both Alberta Health Services and the City of Calgary to discuss further measures about how to contain the outbreak.

In order to achieve a 'watch' status, there needs to be at least 10 active cases of COVID-19 and more than 50 active cases per 100,000 people in a given zone.

(Supplied/Alberta Health)

"This designation is simply an indicator that health officials are monitoring the risk and discussing with the local administration and other community leaders if needed the possible need for additional health measures," Alberta Health wrote in an email to CTV News.

Cases at Verve continue to climb

Verve, a condo building in Calgary's East Village, is the main reason the watch was called in the area. As of Sunday, there are 45 cases of the illness associated with the building.

Thirty-four of those cases are active, 11 people have recovered and three remain in hospital.

Last week, residents at the building were offered testing either at the building or at the Richmond Road Diagnostic and Treatment Centre. There are no details on how many tests have been conducted on Verve's residents to date.

The management company will be holding a town hall meeting early this week to help answer any questions from residents.