Alberta reported another 764 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the highest new daily case count since Jan. 15, and 191 of those cases were a variant of concern.
On Thursday, the province released new COVID-19 data showing variants now make up 20 per cent of all cases.
In the past 24 hours, the province ran 14,062 tests for a positivity rate of 5.4 per cent. There are currently 6,835 active cases in the province.
Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said right now, four out of every 10 new cases of COVID-19 are being contracted at home.
"The number one riskiest activity is living in a household with someone who's infectious," Hinshaw said.
"There is no other activity that even comes close to that proportion of our new cases.”
Alberta’s top doctor said many people may feel like it is inevitable to have home transmission, as at home people let their guard down, but she said if somebody in the home starts to exhibit symptoms or is exposed to COVID-19, they should take the necessary steps to prevent spread.
Anyone with symptoms should isolate from other members of the household and get tested as soon as possible.
Hinshaw said there are free hotel rooms available in the province for people to isolate outside their family home.
While households make up a large portion of provincial spread, Hinshaw reiterated on Thursday that there is no one single sector driving the increase in numbers, but rather people are letting their guard down in multiple settings.
As of Thursday, there were 294 people in the hospital with 55 of those in intensive care. Another three deaths were reported to Alberta Health, bringing the total Albertans who have died so far to 1,976 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Currently, 365 schools, about 15 per cent, are on alert or have outbreaks, with 1,577 cases in total. 255 schools are on alert, with 519 total cases.
Outbreaks have been declared in 110 schools, for a total of 1,058 cases. In-school transmission has likely occurred in 265 schools. Of those, 134 have had one case as a result.
There have been 532,171 vaccine doses delivered as of March 24, with 94,347 Albertans vaccinated with both doses.
The province has given out 12,035 doses per 100,000 people.
