EDMONTON – Alberta’s Chief Medical officer of health and officials will provide an update on COVID-19 and the ongoing work to protect public health in the province.
Cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in Alberta. Albertans must follow mandatory restrictions to protect the health-care system and bend the curve of COVID-19.
Latest updates
- Over the last 24 hours, 1,733 new cases were identified.
- There are 453 people in hospital due to COVID-19, including 96 in intensive care.
- There are 16,454 active cases in the province.
- To date, 41,182 Albertans have recovered from COVID-19.
- There was an increase of 20,499 tests (2,255,072 total) for a total of 1,473,584 people tested.
- The testing positivity rate is 8.4 per cent.
- All zones across the province have cases:
- Calgary Zone: 6,141 active cases and 17,590 recovered
- South Zone: 693 active cases and 3,153 recovered
- Edmonton Zone: 7,388 active cases and 15,808 recovered
- North Zone: 869 active cases and 2,895 recovered
- Central Zone: 1,238 active cases and 1,614 recovered
- 125 active cases and 122 recovered cases in zones to be confirmed
- Additional information, including case totals, is online.
- Currently, 376 schools, about 16 per cent, are on alert or have outbreaks, with 1,405 cases in total.
- Of those, 181 schools are on alert, with 270 total cases.
- Outbreaks are declared in 203 schools, including 88 on watch, with a total of 1,135 cases.
- So far, in-school transmission has likely occurred in 235 schools. Of these, 120 have had only one new case result.
- Based on data available to date, 264 schools have been removed from the alert list.
- There are 719 active and 2,455 recovered cases at long-term care facilities and supportive/home living sites.
- To date, 343 of the 541 reported deaths (63 per cent) have been in long-term care facilities or supportive/home living sites
- In the last 24 hours, there were eight additional COVID-related deaths reported: one on Nov. 15, one on Nov. 24, one on Nov. 25, one on Nov. 26, one on Nov. 27, one on Nov. 28 and two on Nov. 29.
- The total number of COVID-19 related deaths is now 541.
- Alberta is reporting case numbers and information daily, including on weekends and holidays.
Strong restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19
- Strong, targeted public health measures are in place across Alberta. These include mandatory provincewide measures and those targeted at regions under enhanced status.
- These restrictions and increased enforcement are intended to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in communities, protect hospitals, keep schools, places of worship and businesses open as much as possible, and better protect vulnerable Albertans.
- Though announced on Nov. 24, it will take several weeks to determine the full impact of these restrictions on the spread of COVID-19.
- All existing guidance and legal orders remain in place in all areas.
- Alberta Health, AHS and local municipalities continue to closely monitor the spread across the province.
School health measures
- Beginning Nov. 30, students in Grades 7 to 12 will attend school through at-home learning until Jan. 8, except during Winter Break, continue at-home learning after the break and resume in-person classes on Jan. 11.
- Students in kindergarten to Grade 6 will continue in-person learning until their scheduled Winter Break, move to at-home learning after the break, and resume in-person classes on Jan. 11.
- Students with disabilities and students in outreach programs who require support and services that cannot be met through at-home learning can continue to receive supports and services in-person at school.
- An online map lists schools with two or more confirmed cases, updated every school day.
Enforcement of public health measures
- The government is granting certain Alberta peace officers and community peace officers temporary authority to enforce public health orders.
- Expanding these authorities will increase the number of officers able to levy fines by about 700.
- Not following mandatory restrictions could result in fines of $1,000 per ticketed offence and up to $100,000 through the courts.
International traveller COVID-19 pilot
- An Alberta-Canada joint pilot program is testing an alternative to the 14-day quarantine requirement for international travellers while continuing to protect Canadians from COVID-19.
- Participants are closely monitored daily for symptoms and must follow enhanced preventive health measures, such as wearing masks in public places and avoiding visiting high-risk groups.
Albertans downloading tracer app
- All Albertans are encouraged to download the secure ABTraceTogether app, which is integrated with provincial contact tracing. The federal app is not a contact tracing app.
- Secure contact tracing is an effective tool to stop the spread by notifying people who were exposed to a confirmed case so they can isolate and be tested.
- Early issues have been fixed so the app can run in the background of all mobile devices.
- As of Nov. 30, 280,121 Albertans were using the ABTraceTogether app, 66 per cent on iOS and 34 per cent on Android. On average, 11 new users were registering every hour.
- Secure contact tracing is a cornerstone of Alberta’s Relaunch Strategy.
Symptoms for children and adults
- Everyone in Alberta should monitor themselves for symptoms.
- Adults over age 18 should stay home and get tested if they have any COVID-19 symptoms.
- Children should refer to the daily screening checklist for instructions.
- If a child has any of the core symptoms, they need to isolate for at least 10 days from the start of symptoms or until the symptoms are gone, whichever is longer, or until they test negative for COVID-19.
- Core symptoms for children: cough, fever, shortness of breath, loss of sense of taste or smell.
- For any other symptoms in a child, please assess the number of symptoms and follow the guidance in the checklist.
