COVID-19 -- Image from Dreamtime

By Connor Gunn/LethbridgeNewsNOW

Medicine Hat down to seven active cases

20 new COVID cases in Lethbridge Thursday, 505 provincially

Mar 18, 2021 | 5:28 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Alberta Health Services has released its update on COVID-19 for Thursday, covering statistics compiled over the past 24 hours.

505 cases were confirmed across the province, bringing the total to 140,127. Of those, 5,084 cases are active while 133,086 people have recovered.

In the South Zone, 42 people tested positive including 20 in Lethbridge. After being relatively quiet for some time, there were four new cases in the Crowsnest Pass.

Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw addressed the growing cases in Lethbridge and its surrounding areas.

She explains that many of the cases in the city have come from “family gatherings and visitation between households, people with mild symptoms who do not stay home or get tested right away, or faith gatherings where masking and distancing is not happening.”

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Since yesterday’s update, one Albertan has died from COVID which came from the South Zone. The individual who died was a man in his 60’s.

The death in the South Zone was for a man in his 60’s from North Lethbridge.

Below is a graph of how COVID-19 cases in Alberta have trended since the start of the pandemic, which can also be accessed with more detail here.

Graph from Alberta Health Services

There are seven active cases of COVID-19 in Medicine Hat on Thursday.

The city now has had 566 total cases – the seven active, 542 recovered and there have been 17 deaths.

AHS has moved two cases out of the Medicine Hat numbers.

There are no new cases in the city today and no new recoveries.

Across the province, there are 5,084 active cases, up 166 from Wednesday, and 133,086 recovered cases, up 338.

Alberta’s total cases from the start of the pandemic is 140,127.

There have been 1,188 variant cases ID’d in the province, 91 new today. There are 35 in the South Zone.

There are 505 total new cases in the province today.

There are now 264 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 43 of which are in ICU, and 1,957 deaths.

The province completed 10,934 tests in the past 24 hours.

The positivity rate is about 4.8 per cent.

Alberta has delivered 418,663 doses of vaccine.

Hinshaw’s next update will be on Monday.

An outbreak is listed on the provincial website at the Valleyview long-term care facility in Medicine Hat. The outbreak was opened on Feb. 12. It’s the only local outbreak currently listed.

There are 7,279 cases in the South Zone. There are 647 active cases and 6,530 recovered. The death total in the zone is at 102.

An AHS spokesperson told CHAT News on Monday that AHS South Zone currently has 32 COVID-19 positive individuals in hospital. There are 25 at Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, with four of those in the ICU. Medicine Hat Regional Hospital has three inpatients, with none in the ICU. The Cardston Health Centre has four inpatients.

There are no local schools on either “Alert” or “Outbreak” status on the provincial reporting site.

The website Support Our Students is tracking instances of cases in schools across the province.

Cypress County has totaled 146 cases – one active case and the rest recovered.

The County of Forty Mile has 121 total cases. There are three active cases, 115 recovered and there have been three deaths.

The MD of Taber has 346 total cases — six active cases, 334 recovered and there have been six deaths.

Special Areas No. 2 has 56 total cases – 16 active cases, 39 recovered and there has been one death.

Brooks has 1,365 total cases — two active cases and 1,349 are recovered. Brooks has recorded 14 deaths.

The County of Newell has a total of 161 cases — one active case, 158 recovered and there have been two deaths.

The County of Warner has 177 total cases. There are 15 active cases, 159 are recovered cases and there have been three deaths in the county.

The City of Lethbridge has a total of 2,676 cases. There are 464 active cases, 2,184 recovered and there have been 28 deaths. Lethbridge County has 568 cases, 19 active cases, 542 recovered and there have been seven deaths.

The figures on alberta.ca are “up-to-date as of end of day March 17, 2021.”

Read the full March 18 update from the province here.

Saskatchewan has a total of 31,085 cases, 1,282 considered active. There are 29,392 recovered cases and there have been 411 COVID-19 deaths in the province.

Saskatchewan has delivered 118,195 doses of vaccine.

— With a file from CHAT News Today