Alberta records 121 new cases of COVID-19, 1 new death on Wednesday

Edmonton — Alberta recorded 121 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the province's total to 11,893.

One more Albertan has also died, a woman in her 90s who lived at the Good Samaritan Southgate Care Centre. She is the 29th fatality linked to the outbreak at the facility.

Alberta Health notes the centre reported the death yesterday but is included in the province's numbers today due to a delay in the reporting system.

There are currently 63 people in hospital, an decrease of one over yesterday's count. Those numbers include 13 patients in intensive care units, a decrease of one over Tuesday.

Alberta's active case count rose by 40 to 1,044. And, 10,632 people are now categorized as recovering from COVID-19.

With 426 active cases, the city of Edmonton has the most of any municipality in Alberta, and 153 more than Calgary's 273 active case count.

Dr. Hinshaw said public health investigation are underway.

"It's going to take us a bit of time to work through that typical process and to identify some particular outbreaks that are driving this," Dr. Hinshaw said of the growing number of cases in Edmonton.

On Wednesday, Dr. Hinshaw addressed the looming reopening of Alberta schools by urging teachers and other school staff to get tested for COVID-19 before classes resume, as well as throughout the school year.

"Testing is a powerful tool that helps us limit the spread of COVID-19 and protect people from infection," she said.

The province also announced that some hospitalization data from May and June had been revised, resulting a reduction of numbers. The revisions were prompted by a counting error linked to the outbreak at the Misericordia Community Hospital.