Everything you need to know about COVID-19 in Alberta on Thursday, July 1

The latest COVID-19 numbers

• Alberta reported 76 new cases of COVID-19 out of 6,335tests.
• There are1,055 active COVID-19 cases the fewest active cases since August 2020 and the positivity rate is 1.17 per cent.
• There were 165people in hospitalin Alberta, and of those 34were in intensive care units.
• Alberta reportedtwo more deaths, includingaman in his 20s in the Central zone. There are no known comorbidities at this time in connection to his death.
• There have now been 2,301COVID deaths, while 228,631Albertans are considered to have recovered from COVID-19.
• Alberta will not report COVID-19 data on Thursday due to thestatutory holiday. Updates will resume on Friday.
• The latest R-value was 0.75, meaning the virus is spreading to fewer than one person for each confirmed case. That number has slightly decreased from the previous week.
• 130 schools, or about five per cent, are on alert or have outbreaks, with 1,051 cases in total.
• Anotheroutbreak involving the delta varianthas been declared on one unit at Peter Lougheed Centre in Calgary on Monday.
• Three patients and one health-care worker havetested positive for COVID-19. All cases appear to be hospital-acquired.
• Two patients who werefully immunized havetested positive for the variant.
• Hinshaw said there is still no timeline for when race-based COVID-19 data will be released.

The latest on restrictions and reopenings:

• Alberta entered Stage 3 of its three-stage reopening plan onJuly 1. That means:
  • All restrictions will belifted, including the ban on indoor social gatherings.
  • The general indoor provincial mask mandate will be lifted, but masking may still be required in limited settings or if certain communities continue it under local bylaws.
• Edmonton city council voted on Friday to drop its mandatory mask bylaw July 1.
• Calgary will have its mask mandate in place until at least July 5.
• Banff towncouncilvoted to immediately end its outdoor masking bylawon Wednesday morning, but will maintain indoor masking until July 1.
• In terms of travel, fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents will be able to enter Canada without undergoing quarantine starting the night of July 5, the federal government announced on June 21. However, Canadians and permanent residents who are fully vaccinatedwill need to show documents proving they received doses of vaccines approved in Canada at least 14 days prior to entering the country.
• Officials said travellers must electronically submit COVID-19-related information to the government'sArriveCANapp before arriving,meet the pre- and on-arrival test requirements, be asymptomaticand have a suitable quarantine plan.

(Note the latest daily count of new cases in the above chart will usually vary slightly from the net new cases Alberta Health announces each day. For more on why, click here.)

The latest on vaccines:

• Alberta has changed how it reports the percentage of Albertans who have been vaccinated. It is now measuring the total population using Statistics Canada data from July 2020.
• 36per cent of allAlbertans have been fully vaccinated,and 62per cent of the total population hasbeenvaccinated with one dose (72.8per cent of those ages 12 and up).
• Alberta hasadministered4,266,408 dosesofCOVID-19 vaccine,includingPfizer-BioNTech, Modernaand AstraZeneca-Oxford.
• Hinshaw said that due to dropping demand,Alberta hasmore than 4,000doses of AstraZeneca that will expire July 1.
• Anyone who received their first mRNA (Pfizer or Moderna) dose in May or earlier can book their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Also,anyone who received a first mRNA dose in June can also now book their second dose once four weeks have passed since their first shot.
• Alberta is offering $3 million in lottery winnings to encourage more people to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Three $1-million prizes will be available for Albertans aged 18 and over who have had at least one dose. To register, eligible Albertans must fill out their information at alberta.ca/lottery.
• The province expects to receivefewer Pfizer doses in the coming weeks than it had anticipated.But an increase in Moderna shipments means Alberta will see an overall increase in supply of mRNA vaccines in July.
• Canada's national advisory committee on immunization says Moderna and Pfizer can be used interchangeably because they use the same mRNA technology.
• The provinceallows those who received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for their first dose to get either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna for the second, or they canget anotherAstraZeneca vaccine shot.
• Alberta Health Services says due to a booking error, about 2,400 appointments at the Genesis Centre COVID-19 immunization clinic in northeast Calgary on Monday and Tuesday are being rescheduled. Around 2,500 people had been booked for immunization at the centre on each of those days.

You can see active cases by local health area on the following interactive map. Scroll, zoom and click on the map for more information:

See which regions are being hit hardest:

Here is thedetailed regional breakdownof active cases as reported by the province on Wednesday.

• Calgary zone:565.
• Edmonton zone:158.
• Central zone: 118.
• South zone: 30.
• North zone: 181.
• Unknown: 3.

Here are the latest Alberta COVID-19 stories: