Alberta edges closer to COVID-19 records as pandemic's third wave keeps rising

Alberta edged closer to breaking pandemic records on Wednesday for both new and active cases of COVID-19.

The province reported 1,839 new cases over the past 24 hours, just shy of the single-day record of 1,875 set during the second wave on Dec. 4.

The number of active cases hit 20,938, an increase of more than 200 from the day before. The record for active cases in the province (20,976) was set on Dec. 13, also during the second wave.

On Wednesday, Alberta hospitals were treating 643 patients with the illness, including 145 in ICU beds. Both those totals were up slightly from the day before and are also approaching record levels seen in December.

Another six deaths were reported over the past 24 hours, bringing the pandemic total to 2,073.

Another 1,058 cases of highly contagious variants of concern were reported on Wednesday. Those variants now make up 63 per cent of all active cases in the province.

Public health officials are tracking four different variants in the province. Screening has identified 27,921 variant cases so far, with 13,193 of them active.

The breakdown of variants as of Wednesday was:

• B117, first identified in the United Kingdom, 26,985 cases
• B1351, first identified in the South Africa, 75 cases
• P1, first identified Brazil, 860 cases
• B1617, first identified in the India, one case

Eighty-one deaths have been linked to variants of the coronavirus.