Alberta tops 100,000 total cases since start of COVID-19 pandemic

Alberta's total count of COVID-19 cases topped 100,000 on Wednesday as the province reported 18 more deaths from the illness.

There were 1,287new cases confirmed on Dec. 29, according to the latest update on the Alberta Health Services website. This brings the total number of Albertans who have tested positive for the disease since Marchto 100,428.

According to the latest update, there are 14,555 active cases, a decrease of 230 from the day before. Thetotal number of active cases has been slowly declining since Dec. 13, when the numberpeaked at 21,112.

There are 921 patients being treated in Alberta hospitals for the illness, an increase of 31 from the day before. The number of patients in intensive care unit beds dropped by one, to 152.

Hospitals in the Edmonton zone are treating 515 patients, including 83 who are in intensive care.

Given the province's population of about 4.4 million people, one in every 44 Albertans has now tested positive for COVID-19. A total of 84,827 people are listed as recovered.

The regional breakdown of active cases on Wednesday was:

• Edmonton zone: 6,624
• Calgary zone: 5,129
• Central zone: 1,430
• North zone: 1,031
• South zone: 296
• Unknown: 45

Laboratories completed14,741 tests on Dec. 29, for a positivity rate of about 8.7 per cent.

In all, 1,650,655 people have been tested for COVID-19 in the province, while labs have administered more than 2.7 million total tests.