Omicron cases jump by 872 in Alberta, Cochrane adds 14 active cases

The COVID-19 numbers for Monday, December 20 saw a significant increase due in large part to the Omicron variant. 

• Since Friday, the province has recorded 872 more cases of the Omicron variant bringing the total in the province to 1,045.
• There were 1,925 new cases of COVID-19 reported over the weekend with a positivity rate of around 8 per cent. 
• The active case count in the province increased by 1,221 for a total of 5,652.
• The good news is hospitalizations have not been impacted yet and dropped by 20 to a total of 324 and ICU admissions increased by one to 69.
• Sadly, the death toll did increase over the weekend with another six deaths reported for a total of 3,292 in the province.
• Cochrane saw an increase of 14 cases over the weekend for a total of 55 and Rocky View County also saw an increase of 37 cases for a total of 78.

The AHS has announced that in light of the growing number of Omicron cases, extra precautions will be taken at acute and continuing care facilities starting tomorrow.