1,682 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed during the past 24 hours in Alberta. About 15,000 (15,025) tests were conducted for a test positivity rate of approximately 11.2 percent.
There are 1,084 individuals hospitalized in Alberta due to COVID-19. The number of COVID patients in intensive care units is 268.
34 new deaths have occurred. The number of lives lost due to the virus in Alberta is 2,697.
The number of active cases of COVID-19 is 20,306 – down by 207 from September 27th.
695 new variant cases have been identified.
There are 5,198 active cases of COVID-19 in the Edmonton Zone, 4,884 in the Calgary Zone, and 4,061 in the Central Zone.
Crossfield is remains at 23 active cases of the virus. Sundre is up to 75, the Didsbury/Carstairs/South Mountain View County area is down to 92, Olds is down to 95, the Three Hills/Highway 21 area is up to 138, Sylvan Lake is down to 147, Innisfail is down to 158, and Rocky Mountain House is up to 360.
Red Deer County is down to 364 active cases of COVID-19, while Mountain View County is up to 161.
More than 273,000 (273,463) Albertans have recovered from the virus.
As of September 28th, over 6.0 million (6,049,067) doses of vaccine have been administered in Alberta. According to the data on the alberta.ca website, 56.9 percent of people of all ages in Sundre have been immunized with at least one dose, while 50.2 percent are fully vaccinated.
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The Canadian Medical Association is calling for lockdowns in Alberta and Saskatchewan to protect their crumbling health-care systems.
Both western provinces are setting hospitalization records for COVID-19, with intensive care capacity running slim.
Doctor Katharine Smart, who is the president of the national association, is urging the federal and provincial governments to take immediate and courageous action.
She says politics must be put to the side to allow for collaboration between levels of government.
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Premier Jason Kenney is rejecting new measures and a so-called “firebreak” lockdown of the economy despite a surge of COVID-19 cases overwhelming hospitals.
Kenney says his government needs more time to see if recent public health rules are working.
He says another lockdown would unduly punish people who have been vaccinated while probably having no effect on the 17 per cent of eligible Albertans who have so far resisted getting even one shot.
Doctors say the only solution is to immediately shut down schools, businesses and attendance at sports events — but with full compensation.
Meanwhile, Alberta has added hospitals and health-care facilities to the official list of infrastructure that protesters cannot block during demonstrations.
During yesterday’s COVID-19 update, Premier Kenney announced the changes to the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, which will go into effect later this week.
The law provides essential infrastructure protection from damage or interference by creating offences for trespassing, interfering with operations in construction and causing damage.
The change comes after protests were held outside hospitals in Alberta earlier this month.
(Contains content from The Canadian Press)
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