Alberta announced Friday there were no new COVID-19 deaths reported, though cases across the province are climbing
This is the first time the province has reported zero new deaths since November.
On Friday, the province announced another 696 new cases of COVID-19, with a 5.8-per-cent positivity rate.
There are currently 5,429 active cases with 276 people in the hospital and 48 of them in intensive care.
Right now, variants of concern make up 12.9 per cent of active cases in the province, or 698 cases. Overall, there have been 1,318 variants of concern identified in the province.
To date, 14 Albertans have reportedly died from the variants.
There have been 439,069 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines distributed since March 18.
The province has been moving forward with a reopening plan, with Step 1 kicking in on Feb 8 and Step 2 starting on March 1. The province is currently contemplating moving into Step 3 of the reopening plan, which would potentially ease the restrictions for adult team sports, casinos, youth sports, indoor social gatherings, indoor seated events, museums and places of worship.
Right now, the province has dropped below its benchmark of 300 hospitalizations to enter the next phase of reopening. Step 3 can begin as early as Monday, but it is not yet known if that will happen.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said hospitalization levels in the province have been below 300 for around five weeks and they have been stable.
Kenney said the government would review the advice of Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw over the next few days.
"If the province has under 300 people hospitalized with COVID-19, then that's the key metric to move toward Step 3," Kenney said.
