What you need to know about COVID-19 in Alberta on Tuesday, Nov. 17

The latest:

• Alberta reported five more deaths and 773 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday.
• Deaths in the province now total432 and there are 10,068 active cases.
• 71per cent of active cases have an unknown source of transmission.
• There are 268 people in hospital, 57 of whom are in intensive care.
• Alberta Health says the median time between identifying a positive case and notifying close contacts is between seven and 10 days.
• A new outbreak at Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary continues to grow, with five patients testing positive on a mental health unit up three cases since the outbreak was declared last week. The hospital's earlier outbreaks, which led to 95 cases including 12 deaths, have since been declared over.
• Chestermere council unanimously approved a mandatory mask bylaw on Tuesday evening.

• Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, said Monday cases in the province are growing exponentially and are straining the system.
• There are more than 4,100 cases each in Edmonton and Calgary alone.
• Alberta hospitals are tightening restrictions on visitors as thesecond wave ofinfections hits, withpatients in all hospitals nowlimited to one or twodesignated family or support people for their entire stay.
• The province has revealedits COVID-19 app has been used to trace only 20 cases over sixmonths. Officialsnow admit known issues may persist when the software is running in the background on devices made by Apple.
• Last Thursday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenneyannounced heightened restrictionsfor two weeks. From last Friday to Nov. 27, in much of the province, the government suspended indoor group fitness programs, team sports andgroup performance activities, and reduced operating hours for restaurants, bars and pubs in much of the province.
• Kenney also repeated his call for personal responsibility, strongly urging Albertans living in any area under enhanced measures not to have social gatherings in their homes.
• There are1,046 active cases in schools and 65 schools are on the watch list. In-school transmission has happened in 151 schools.
• All Grade 10 and 11 students at Calgary'sNelson Mandela High School have moved to online learning for 14 days because ofstaffing issues related to infections at the school.
• Three cases are tied to a new outbreak at the Queen Elizabeth II hospital in Grande Prairie.

• The Calgary Catholic School Districthas put a stop to all extracurricular activities as of Monday, after almost 6,000 students and teachers went into self-isolationdue to having close contact with people infected with COVID-19. The school board says it has 119 students and 16 staff members listed as testingpositive. The district is struggling to keep up with demand for substitute teachers.
• AHS has introduced an onlinecontact tracing tool thatwill notify close contacts of positive cases by automated text message.

What you need to know today in Alberta

Alberta saw its deadliest day of the pandemic on Monday, with 20 more deaths. It also surpassed 10,000 active cases for the first time and reached new heights for hospitalizations.

On Tuesday, the province added five more deaths fora total of 432, and 773 new cases for a total of 10,068. Of those active cases, 71 per cent have an unknown source of transmission. There are268 people in hospital, 57 in ICU.

Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, said Mondaythe province is now in its second wave.

"We have entered an exponential growth period and that is, of course, deeply concerning," she said.

"The measures in place right now are literally a matter of life and death, and the choices Albertans are making now will determine our future in a few weeks."

Alberta's COVID-19 tracing app whichlaunched in Mayandhas been downloaded more than 260,000 times has been used in "approximately 20 cases" to track down contacts of someone who tested positive for the disease, the provincial government has revealed.

Ongoing concerns over the app, in a province that has opted out of a similarapp offered by the federal government, comeas Alberta sets new records for daily cases (more than 1,000 on Saturday), hospitalizations (264 at last count) and deaths (20 more reported Monday).

The province also backtrackedon earlier claims that problems with the iPhone version of its app were resolved by a recent update. It now admits issues may persist when the software is running in the background on devices made by Apple and says it plans to conduct further testing.

Hinshaw said the rising numbers are straining the system in multiple ways.

Contact tracers overwhelmed, and it's seen in the transmission numbers with 71per cent of active cases coming from unknown sources. Hinshaw said every new case means, on average, 15 close contacts or more than 10,000 a day and tracers can't keep up.

She said it is critical that people who test positive follow directions and enter their close contact information into the AHS online portal.

Alberta hospitals are tightening restrictions on visitors as a second wave of COVID-19 infections hits.

Under the new restrictions, announced Monday, patients in all Alberta hospitals are limited to one or twodesignated family or support people for their entire stay.

An Edmonton hospital is readying new surge measures as it braces for Alberta's COVID-19 intensive care admissions to potentially double in the next two weeks, according to theemail obtained by CBC News.

Donalda Dyjur, an executive director at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, sent the email to staff Saturday afternoon, the same day Alberta hit a single-day record of 1,026 new cases.

"Based on this current trend, it is projected that COVID cases will double within the next twoweeks if the curve does not flatten," said Dyjur, addressing hospital ICU admissions.

A south Edmonton long-term care facility at the centre of a deadly COVID-19 outbreak is facing a $8.1-million class-action lawsuit for negligence.

In a statement of claim filed Oct. 28 in the Edmonton Court of Queen's Bench, representative plaintiff Angelena Larson alleges that the not-for-profit Shepherd's Care Foundation breached its duty of care as the virus continued to spread through its Mill Woods care home.

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As COVID-19 cases continue to surge across Canada, provinces are implementing the short, sharp "circuit-breaker" lockdowns to fight the spread of the virus and prevent health-care systems from being overwhelmed.

The statement of claimalleges the foundation left residents "unnecessarily exposed" to the risk of infection, even as the outbreak continued to escalate.The lawsuit has yet to be certified as a class action. Statements of claim contain allegations not proven in court.

More than 101 cases of COVID-19 have been linked to the outbreak including 63 residents and 47 staff.Thirteen residents have died.

New provincial measures kicked in on Friday. For the next two weeks, a swathe ofAlberta will suspend indoor group fitness programs, team sports and group performance activities. All restaurants, bars, lounges and pubs in Calgary and Edmonton and other areas underenhanced status(areaswith more than 50 active cases per 100,000 people)must stop liquor sales by 10 p.m.

KenneyurgedAlbertans in any area under enhanced measures to not to have social gatherings in their homes.

On Sunday, the chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, Tom Sampson,called for a "circuit breaker"lockdownof up to 28 days. He said itshould happen now to salvage the holiday season.A circuit breaker lockdown is a short period of more stringent restrictions with adefined end point where non-essential services are shut down in order to reduce spread, allowing the system to catch up to the number of cases.

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A new program launched this month by a group associated with the law school at the University of Calgary is offering free legal help for Albertans who are facing mounting debt and looming foreclosures.

Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the long-running slump in the energy sector, Albertans have been hit hard financially.

The Consumer Debt Negotiation Project is designed to help address that problem, saysChristine Laing, executive director of the U of C's Public Interest Law Clinic.

"Debtors get frozen when they are faced with legal action or faced with having to make choices about their debt. And they often can't afford a lawyer or don't know to go to a lawyer or bury their heads in the sand until it's too late," she said.

With activeCOVID-19 cases reaching anall-time high in Alberta, Calgary pubs and retail shops are grappling withtough choicesabout their businesses headed into the holiday season.

Chris Hewitt, owner of Dickens Pub in Calgary, said he expected the new rules"to be a bit more strict or a bit more far-reaching."

After thinking it over, he announced Monday via Facebook that the restaurant and music venue would be voluntarily closing for two to three weeks.

The owner of theShip and Anchor is considering shutting down for New Year's Eve because they fear customers' behaviour at the Calgary pub will be too hard to monitor.

Here isthe regional breakdown of active cases reported on Tuesday.

• Calgary zone: 4,208, up from 4,141 reported on Monday.
• Edmonton zone: 4,138, up from 4,134.
• North zone: 645, down from 665.
• South zone: 548, down from 556.
• Central zone: 441, down from 447.
• Unknown: 88, the same as Monday.

Find out which neighbourhoods or communities have the most cases, how hard people of different ages have been hit, the ages of people in hospital, how Alberta compares to other provinces and more in: Here are the latest COVID-19 statistics for Alberta and what they mean

What you need to know today in Canada:

Canada's COVID-19 case count as of early Tuesday stood at 302,192, with 50,878of those considered active cases.A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC's reporting stood at 11,027.

InBritish Columbia, case numbers are on the rise with the vast majority of new cases coming in the Lower Mainland. Health officialssaid Monday that1,959 casesand nine additional deathswere recorded in B.C.overa three-day period.

InSaskatchewan, health officials reported181 new caseson Monday, bringing the number of active cases in the province close to 2,000. New restrictions came into effect on Monday, but Premier Scott Moe said his government is considering further measures.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority has said that, based on the test positivity rate, it's preparing for more people to be hospitalized and to need intensive care over the next couple of weeks.

Ontarioreported 1,487 new cases of COVIDon Monday and 10 additional deaths. Health officials reported 500 hospitalizations, with 125 in ICU.

InQuebec,health officials on Monday reported 1,218 new casesand 25 more deaths, six of which occurred in the past 24 hours.

Across the North, which has so far avoided the worst of the global pandemic, concern was mounting asNunavutannounced eight new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total number of cases in the territory to 26.

The territory, which announced its first confirmed case earlier this month, is tightening restrictions in an effort toclamp down on the virus: schools will close, as will recreation facilities, bars and restaurants.

In Atlantic Canada,New Brunswickreportedeight new caseson Monday, with six in the Monctonregionand two in the Fredericton region.Nova Scotiareportedtwo new cases both linked to schools.

There were no new cases reported Mondayin eitherPrince Edward IslandorNewfoundland and Labrador.

For the second time this month, there's promising news about a COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Modernasaid Monday its shots provide strong protection. The vaccine isamong those Canada has preordered for its population.

Self-assessment and supports:

With winter cold and influenza season approaching, Alberta Health Services will prioritize Albertans for testing who have symptoms, and those groups which are at higher risk of getting or spreading the virus.

General asymptomatictesting is currently unavailable for people with no known exposure to COVID-19.

Those who test positive will be asked to use the online COVID-19 contact tracing tool, so that their close contacts can be notified by text message.

The province says Albertans who have returned to Canada from other countries must self-isolate. Unless your situation is critical and requires a call to 911, Albertans are advised to call Health Link at 811 before visiting a physician, hospital or other health-care facility.

If you have symptoms, even mild, you are to self-isolate for at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms, until the symptoms have disappeared.

You can find Alberta Health Services' latest coronavirus updates here.

The province also operates a confidential mental health support line at 1-877-303-2642 and addiction help line at 1-866-332-2322, both available 24 hours a day.

Online resources are available for advice on handling stressful situations and ways to talk with children.

There is a 24-hour family violence information line at 310-1818 to get anonymous help in more than 170 languages, and Alberta's One Line for Sexual Violence is available at 1-866-403-8000, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.