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Fort McMurray now has 15 active COVID-19 cases

Last Updated Apr 27, 2020 at 8:43 pm MDT

This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. Despite a surge in demand due to COVID-19, many distress centres across Canada are dangerously close to folding thanks to major declines in both volunteers and revenue. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, NIAID-RML

Fort McMurray now has 15 active cases of COVID-19 along with five recovered cases.

Elsewhere in the RMWB there are two other recovered cases.

Alberta reported the two additional cases for Fort McMurray along with 216 more cases for the rest of the province which now has 4,696 cases.

There have been two more deaths bringing the death toll to 75.

On the positive side, there have been 1,664 recovered cases and 135,442 tests completed.

A state of emergency was declared for the region in March in response to the pandemic and another was issued on Sunday due to flooding.

READ MORE: Mandatory evacuation order for all of downtown Fort McMurray

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, said during her daily briefing that provincial officials were also prepared for potential evacuations for the due to floods or fires.

“Our teams at health have been working with the provincial operations centre to make sure there are considerations, for example, in evacuation centres,” she said.

Hinshaw said that includes physical distancing and sanitation measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Officials with Alberta Health Services have also issued a boil water advisory due to reports of discolouration in tap water in some Fort McMurray neighbourhoods.

It was later expanded to the entire city, as well as to Anzac, Draper, Fort McMurray First Nation, Gregoire Lake Estates and Saprae Creek Estates.

READ MORE: Boil Water Advisory in effect for Fort McMurray, rural hamlets

-With files from the Canadian Press