Alberta reports 285 new COVID-19 cases from Friday to Sunday, 3 more deaths

Alberta recorded 285 new cases of COVID-19 from Friday to Sunday and three more deaths, says the province's top doctor.

On Monday, Alberta Health posted numbers for the three days that totalled 359 cases.

That figure included 177 cases for Friday.

But Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health,said later on Twitter that the Friday case numbers included 74 that were actually included in the database from dates before Aug. 14.

"Case numbers historically go up and down a little each day as probable cases are reconciled," Hinshaw said on Twitter. "Today's numbers include 74 cases from before Aug. 14 that were reconciled in the database on this day. This is a much larger than usual number of reconciled cases reported in one day."

Alberta Health will further analyze the information, Hinshaw said, and will provide more information at a news conference already scheduled for Tuesday.

Over the three-day period, 103 new cases were confirmed on Friday, 86 on Saturday and 96 on Sunday, according to the latest update from Alberta Health.

By end of day Sunday, there were 1,132 active cases in the province, an increase of 96 from Thursday's total.

Alberta Health Services is investigating after 13 confirmed cases were linked to the Bible Pentecostal Church in Edmonton, a government spokesperson told CBC News on Monday.

Anyone who attended the churchbetween July 26 and Aug.12, or who has been in close contact with someone who did, should book a COVID-19 test online and continue to monitor for symptoms, Sherene Khawa, an assistant communications director with the province, said in an email.

Provincial laboratories conducted more than 28,000 tests over the same three-day period.

The regional breakdown as of Sunday was:

• Edmonton zone, 593 active cases, up 96 from Thursday.
• Calgary zone, 300active cases, up five from Thursday.
• North zone, 102active cases, down one from Thursday.
• Central zone, 85active cases, up four from Thursday.
• South zone, 42active cases, down three from Thursday.
• Unknown zone, 10active cases, up five from Thursday.

By the end of Sunday, 45 people were being treated in Alberta hospitals for the illness, with 10 of them in ICU beds.

A total of 12,412 caseshave been reported in Alberta since the beginning of the pandemic, with 11,056 listed as recovered.

The death toll in the province is now 224.

The three most recent deaths werea man in his 80s from the North zone, a man in his 60s from the South zone and a man in his 60s from the Calgary zone.

None of them were residentsin continuing care centres.