COVID-19 cases increase by 297 in Alberta on Friday, Lakeland cases remain same

There have been no changes in the number of COVID-19 cases in the Lakeland on Friday.

There remains one active case in the County of St. Paul area, one active case in the Cold Lake area, and one active case in the Vermilion River County area.

The Bonnyville area has had seven cases of the virus, which have all recovered.

On Friday, 297 new cases were confirmed by chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw for a total of 4,016 cases.

Three of these new cases are in First Nations communities in the Calgary zone.

These individuals are isolating and Indigenous Services Canada is working with these communities, said Dr. Hinshaw.

Four people have died in the past 24 hours, three of which were residents of long-term care facilities, putting the provincial COVID-19 death toll at 72.

The number of recovered people has increased to 1,397.

Alberta Health Services is investigating two cases at Mountain View Poultry chicken processing facility in Okotoks.

Eight new cases were reported in the North Zone, which extends just north of Edmonton to the provincial border and includes the Lakeland region.

The Calgary area has just over 70 per cent of total infections.

• Calgary Zone: 2,833 cases
• Edmonton Zone: 466 cases
• South Zone: 444 cases
• North Zone: 165 cases
• Central Zone: 82 cases
• Unknown: 27 cases

Dr. Hinshaw reinforced her message yesterday about restricting summer events and get-togethers, saying the risk of having one person unknowingly carrying the virus, like the bonspiel with health care workers in March, could lead to dozens of more cases.