EDMONTON — Alberta's chief medical officer of health says the province is seeing a downward trend of COVID-19 cases, with fewer than 100 reported each day over the last week.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Thursday that there were 56 new coronavirus cases and two new deaths.
She says one of the deaths was at the Good Samaritan Society Southgate Care Centre in Edmonton, where 25 people have died.
A COVID-19 outbreak began in the facility on July 17 and is now considered the deadliest one in the province.
The centre says on its site that there are 36 active cases among residents and 20 active cases in employees.
Hinshaw says there are 76 people in hospital with the virus in Alberta, with 19 in intensive care.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in early March, 205 people have died in Alberta.
"Of course, we are not out of the woods yet," Hinshaw said. "The spread of the virus over the coming weeks will depend on the choices we make this weekend and in the days and weeks ahead."
She continued to stress that Albertans should wear masks and also instruct their children how to wear them.
"The hard truth is that we will likely still be fighting COVID-19 in 2021, so we do need to build good daily habits now," she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2020
The Canadian Press
