Alberta surpasses 3K COVID-19 deaths, adds 786 new cases Wednesday

A nurse prepares to give the first COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed in Edmonton on Tuesday, December 15, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Edmonton — More than 3,000 Albertans have now died due to COVID-19 after the province reported 18 new deaths and 786 new cases on Wednesday.

The deaths are spread across several days and range in age from in their 30s to those over 80 years old. They bring the number of Albertans to have died due to COVID-19 up to 3,006.

The 3,000th death appears to have occurred on Sunday but that could change pending future data revisions and typical delays in death reporting.

Alberta is averaging about 10 deaths from COVID-19 a day over the past week.

As of Wednesday, there are 928 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 203 patients in intensive care units.

The province now has 10,842 active cases and a seven-day daily average of 786 infections, as both figures continue their declines over the past week.

Among all Albertans, 73.4 per cent have received one dose of vaccine and 66.2 per cent have received two or more shots.

Unvaccinated Albertans remain signficantly more likely to suffer a severe outcome after contracting COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.

The next data update is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.