Anyone feeling potential COVID-19 symptoms can get tested effective Monday

Chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw has expanded eligibility for COVID-19 testing to anyone in the province with a fever, cough, runny nose, shortness of breath, or sore throat, effective immediately on Monday.

She believes Alberta now has the testing capacity to test anyone with potential novel coronavirus symptoms.

Those who feel these symptoms are asked to stay home and go to the Alberta Health Services online assessment tool.

They do not need to call 811.

Dr. Hinshaw said they conducted over 4,000 tests have been done in the past 24 hours and hope to reach their lab capacity of 7,400 tests soon.

By the end of the month, Alberta Health hopes to do 9,000 tests per day, and 20,000 by mid-to-late May.

Dr. Hinshaw said they’ll release hospitalization trends soon, which are a better indication of the severity of the spread than total cases, she said.

81 new cases confirmed Monday

Just over half of the total number of people with COVID-19 have recovered in Alberta on Monday, with 877 recoveries and 1,732 cases.

There remains three active cases in the Bonnyville area.

Two deaths were confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the province’s death toll due to COVID-19 to 46.

Two-hundred and fifty-four cases may be from community transmission.

• Calgary Zone: 1,114 cases
• Edmonton Zone: 399 cases
• North Zone: 105 cases
• Central Zone: 74 cases
• South Zone: 33 cases
• Unknown: seven cases