Updated Alberta stats indicate 133 flu deaths over 2025-26 season

People walk by a sign for flu shots, in Toronto, on Jan. 9, 2018. (Doug Ives / The Canadian Press)

After updating numbers from previous weeks, the province is now reporting 133 Albertans with the flu have died during the 2025-26 flu season.

By comparison, the 2024-25 flu season reported 40 deaths as of the week starting Dec. 29, with higher death tolls starting in mid-January.

In 2023-24, there were 129 total deaths as of the week starting Dec. 31.

In 2022-23, there were 103 total deaths as of the week starting Dec. 25.

In 2021-22, there were no deaths until April -- and only 20 the whole season.

More than 3,000 people have been hospitalized since the start of flu season in August.

By comparison, there were 3,700 hospitalizations for the entire respiratory season last year, between August 2024 and August 2025.

The province says getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself from influenza.

According to the province’s dashboard, around 967,000 or 19 per cent of Albertans have received the flu shot.

That includes 21.2 per cent of Calgarians and 17.5 per cent overall in the south zone.

In the 2020-21 season, 1,651,105 Albertans -- or 37 per cent -- received a flu shot.