Alberta reports 61 new COVID deaths over past week, decline in hospitalizations

Alberta reported 61 deaths related to COVID-19 Wednesday, as the province released its COVID-19 data from the previous week.

The province held a COVID-19 news conference Tuesday but only provided partial data.

On Tuesday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw — Alberta's chief medical officer of health — said 55 deaths were reported during the six-day stretch from May 10 to 15. During the previous week, the seven-day period of May 3 to 9, 70 deaths were reported.

With these 61 deaths, the province's pandemic total has reached 4,452.

The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 dropped from 1,225 during the last reporting period to 1,165 this reporting period. The number of people in ICU with COVID was up slightly, with 42 reported Wednesday compared to 37 the previous week.

The province reported 3,614 new cases of COVID-19 over the seven-day period, an average of about 516 per day. The new cases only include those who test positive on a lab-confirmed PCR test, which most Albertans can't access.

The seven-day average positivity rate was 19.93 per cent, which is about the same as the average reported Tuesday, which was just under 20 per cent.