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More new cases of COVID-19 variant identified, in-school transmission likely source of two cases

Last Updated Feb 11, 2021 at 6:41 am MDT

EDMONTON (660 NEWS) – Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw has confirmed 16 new COVID-19 variant cases in the last 24 hours.

Two of the new variant cases were likely caused by in-school transmission and Hinshaw says the two cases were from the same class.

READ MORE: Alberta reports one additional variant COVID case, 12 additional deaths

As of Wednesday, seven classes in six different schools have had a positive variant case attend a class while infectious.

Hinshaw says they will be working with public health and will continue to monitor Alberta schools for further transmission.

Meantime, 339 new cases of COVID have been confirmed and now the provincial positivity rate sits at 3.2 per cent.

Alberta has over 5,000 active cases, with the Calgary zone leading in active infections.

RELATED: As some COVID restrictions ease in Alberta, is the chance of transmission higher without a mask?

Alberta’s hospitals and ICU continuing to decline with 421 people presently in the hospital and 77 in the ICU.

Hinshaw says this is about seven times higher than what we saw in the spring and summer.

Six more people have died because of the virus bringing the death toll to 1,728.

One hundred and thirty thousand Albertans have been fully immunized and about 32,000 people have been fully immunized with two doses each.

Hinshaw’s next live update will be on Thursday.