COVID-19 cases increase by 96 on Thursday, death toll reaches 13 in Alberta

The province confirmed 96 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday for a total of 968 in Alberta.

Two more people passed away in the past 24 hours: a man in his 80s from the North Zone and a man in his 90s from McKenzie Towne Long Term Care in Calgary.

Thirteen deaths have occurred from the virus in the province.

There remain four cases in the Bonnyville area and two in the Cold Lake area.

Two cases are in the Vermilion River County area.

Community transmission is suspected in up to 108 cases.

There are nine outbreaks in continuing care facilities in Alberta that totals 74 cases.

Sixty-five of those are from McKenzie Towne Long Term Care.

Chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw is enforcing stricter measures in seniors’ case facilities when there is a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19.

Dr. Hinshaw said they’ll work with these centres on this rollout.

The number of recoveries has increased to 174 people of the total 968 cases.

The province has conducted over 4000 tests in the past 24 hours.

• Calgary Zone: 589 cases
• Edmonton Zone: 247 cases
• Central Zone: 59 cases
• North Zone: 55 cases
• South Zone: 14 cases
• Unknown: four cases