Dr. Deena Hinshaw to update Albertans on spread of COVID-19, omicron variant
CBC
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, will update Albertans on COVID-19 and the omicron variant.
Hinshaw will speak at 3:30 p.m. MT Tuesday. Watch the news conference here.
On Monday, Alberta reported 788 new cases of COVID-19, combining three days of data from over the weekend.
The province also recorded five more deaths from the illness over the weekend, bringing the province's total to 3,263.
The number of identified cases of the new omicron variant in the province has increased to 11 —10 of which were identified in returning travellers and one in a household contact of a person who recently returned home from travelling.
Of the 11 omicron variant cases in Alberta, seven of them were in fully vaccinated people, two who were partially vaccinated and two who were unvaccinated.
Hinshaw said some household members of these cases have tested positive for COVID-19, but it's not confirmed if they have the omicron variant.
The rising number shows Alberta will be dealing with the variant on a much larger scale in the near future, said Dr. Craig Jenne, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Calgary.
"We do know that once the virus is here, really the ability to keep it contained becomes much, much strained," Jenne said.
While it may turn out the variant doesn't pose a serious threat, all current evidence shows it to be highly contagious, he said.
"We don't know yet how this will affect our at-risk population and if this is able to evade vaccines and spread quickly."
Our best hope to slow omicron's arrival is to tighten screening at the borders for all travellers and stiffen rules around self isolation, Jenne said.
There are now 4,374 active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta. As of Monday there were 366 people being treated in hospital with COVID-19, including 72 in intensive care.
About 77.2 per cent of the province's total population has now had at least one dose, while 71.8 per cent is considered fully vaccinated against the virus.
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