Coronavirus (COVID-19) Local News

Wastewater levels show latest wave of COVID levelling off, says Alberta's Health Minister.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw was occupied with court testimony so Wednesday's regular update expected to take place Thursday.

Approximately 60 per cent of all COVID-19 cases identified through PCR testing in the province are the Omicron variant BA.2, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Wednesday. However there is no evidence that it causes more severe outcomes, despite a higher transmission rate.

Recent social media posts have fed into the notion that swabbing the throat with a COVID-19 rapid antigen test kit might yield more accurate results against the Omicron variant than only testing for virus in the nostrils.

The 586 cases, as reported on Airdrie.ca, are an increase of more than 500 infections on Dec. 13, 2021, when 69 active infections were reported. In previous waves of the pandemic, Airdrie never experienced more than 400 active cases. 

In a provincial briefing Dec. 15, Premier Jason Kenney announced that starting Dec. 17, Albertans can visit any of 740 select Alberta Health Services locations to receive free COVID-19 rapid testing kits, which include five tests each.

The new COVID-19 variant was first detected in South Africa and has been declared a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization.

Children now eligible for COVID-19 vaccine.

Another option for COVID-19 vaccine now available in Alberta.

Airdrie's COVID-19 case count continues to fall, according to numbers updated daily on Airdrie.ca The city was reporting 87 active cases of the virus as of Nov. 15 – a drop from 282 active cases on Oct. 20 and 307 on Sept. 30.