Alberta records 144 new COVID-19 cases, two deaths

Alberta confirmed 144 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the biggest single-day total since mid-July.

The province also recorded two more deaths from the disease, bringing the total to 230.

The Edmonton zone continues to hang on to a dubious position of leading the province's five health zones both in terms of new and active cases.

Of the 144 new cases announced Friday, 86 were in the Edmonton zone. With 676 active cases, the Edmonton zone also accounts formore than half of the province's 1,144 active cases.

Here is the breakdown of active cases by health zone:

• Edmonton zone: 676
• Calgary zone: 294
• North zone 110
• Central zone: 30
• South zone: 28
• Unknown: 6

It's only the second timesince May 1 that the province has recorded more than 140 cases in a single day. The last time was July 17, when Alberta confirmed 167 cases.

The number of people in hospital remained steady at 43, with nine people in intensive care, according to the update posted Friday afternoon.

Those rates are significantly lower than what the province saw in mid-May and mid-July, when there were as many as 90 people in hospital with COVID-19.

Alberta Health Services confirmed two staff at the Grey Nuns Community Hospital in southeast Edmonton had tested positive for COVID-19, officially marking an outbreak at the facility.

There are also three COVID-19 patients at the hospital, but they are not considered part of the outbreak since they acquired the disease outside the facility.

In a statement, Covenant Health says all patients on the affected unit had been tested.

The hospital is also testing any staff who worked on the unit or with the infected workers. The cases "may have been acquired while working with COVID-19 patients at the hospital," the statement read.

The numbers reported Friday afternoon are accurateas of the end of Thursday.

The province has completed 865,835 tests since the pandemic began, adding 9,866 tests on Thursday alone. In all, nearly 700,000 people have been tested for the virus in Alberta.

As of Friday's update, 11,374 people had recovered from COVID-19.