COVID-19 fifth wave peak likely reached in Alberta, shift to endemic still too early: Hinshaw

Alberta's top doctor said the province has likely reached the peak of cases from the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, but until hospitalizations significantly decline, a shift to an endemic response is still too early.

Alberta's top doctor said the province has likely reached the peak of cases from the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, but until hospitalizations significantly decline, a shift to an endemic response is still too early.

In an update on Thursday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw reported 2,370 new confirmed infections of COVID-19 after the province completed more than 7,300 tests. The province's positivity rate is approximately 34 per cent for lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19.

There are now 33,879 known active cases in Alberta. However, testing capacity and eligibility limits mean the actual number of new and active COVID-19 infections is much higher.

The number of patients in Alberta hospitals with COVID-19 has reached another new record high. Wednesday's patient count of 1,598 was revised on Thursday to a pandemic high of 1,648.

The latest hospitalization patient count has 1,584 COVID-19 patients in hospital, the third-highest count to date and likely to rise in the coming days pending more revisions.

Hospitalization data is regularly revised to account for accuracy and reporting delays.

The 1,584 includes 112 patients in intensive care units. That's an increase of two from this time a week ago, but the ICU count has held steady between 104 and 114 patients since Jan. 17.