Alberta reports 7 new COVID deaths, hospitalizations drop by 19

Alberta is reporting 1,087 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 78 in intensive care, on Wednesday.

Wednesday's reported hospitalizations mark a slight decline from the 1,106 reported the day before, and down 149 from this time last week. The number of people in ICU increased by one from Tuesday's update. 

With seven new deaths the province's pandemic total is now 3,986. 

Alberta labs completed 3,069 tests on Tuesday and found 552 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19. The positivity rate was about 17.69 per cent, which is among the lowest recorded in 2022. The seven-day average for test-positivity is about 19.22 per cent.

The number of known active cases in the province declined by 271 from the previous day's update. There are now 6,878 known active cases in the province, though that number only includes those who test positive on a PCR test, which most Albertans can't access. The true number of active cases is believed to be much higher.

The province said about 80.9 per cent of Albertans had received at least their first dose of a COVID vaccine, and 76.1 per cent had received their second dose, as of Friday's update. About 35.6 per cent of Albertans have had a third dose of vaccine.