New cases of COVID-19 and the number of active cases recorded in the province, both increased significantly today when Alberta provided the latest report on virus numbers.  

696 new cases were reported today, the greatest one-day jump in that number for some time.  That brings the active cases to 5,429, an increase of 345 over yesterday.  The province conducted 11,918 tests for a positivity rate of over 5.8 percent.

The number of people in hospital with the virus also rose by double-digits to 276, 12 more than on Thursday.  ICU patients rose by five to 48 today.  One of the only numbers that didn't increase from yesterday was the number of deaths that still sit at 1,957.

Both the City of Airdrie and Rocky View County contributed to the rise in active cases.  There are now 66 in Airdrie, an increase of five from yesterday, with the number of people in the city who have recovered from COVID-19 rising to 1,900 today.  In the county, there was a jump of six cases from yesterday with 51 reported. 

Between March 17th and 18th, over 20,000 Albertans were vaccinated.  The total as of March 18th was 439,069.  Yesterday Alberta announced that now more than 259 pharmacies in the province are administering the vaccines. 

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