Alberta reported another 1,486 new cases of COVID-19 in the province yesterday (April 17), with nearly two-thirds of them made up of variants of concern.

That brings the number of active cases to 17,307 in Alberta, 548 more than on Friday.  9,417 cases of variants are among those, making up 54.4 percent of the active provincial cases.  

The province completed tests on 16,353 people making our daily positivity rate 9.2 percent.

445 Albertans are in hospital with the virus, a rise of 22 from Friday's number with 94 people being treated in the ICU, one more than the previous day.  Three more people died from COVID-19 making the death toll in Alberta now 2,037.  Yesterday, worldwide deaths surpassed 3 million.

Of the active cases in the province, the Calgary Zone of AHS that Airdrie is a part of has far and away the most with 7,453.  The Edmonton Zone is next with 4,388 with 2,285 in the North Zone, 1,629 in the Central Zone, 928 in the South Zone, and 76 cases not attached to any zone.

262 of those active cases in the Calgary Zone were in the City of Airdrie yesterday which is up 14 from Friday.  2,167 Airdrie residents have now recovered from COVID-19.  In Rocky View County there were five more cases yesterday than on Friday, a total of 199.  The number of recoveries in the county now sits at 1,100.  

Yesterday Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw reported the first case found in Alberta of the rare disorder of blood clots known as vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) in a patient after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

While Hinshaw says she takes the Alberta case, the second in Canada from more than 700,000 doses of AstraZeneca being administered, very seriously, she continues to recommend the vaccine for anyone 55 or older.  

“The global frequency of VITT has been estimated at approximately one case in 100,000 to 250,000 doses of vaccine. In comparison, Albertans 55 and older who are diagnosed with COVID-19 have a one in 200 chance of dying from that infection. They are also at least 1,500 times more likely to be hospitalized from COVID-19 than experiencing VITT after getting AstraZeneca.”

Hinshaw said the patient is a male in his 60s who has received treatment and is recovering. To protect patient confidentiality, no additional details will be publicly released.

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