75% of eligible Albertans have had at least 1 shot of COVID-19 vaccine

Alberta hit a significant mark in the vaccination campaign Thursday, while public health officials also reported two more COVID-19 deaths and the highest single-day case spike in weeks.

According to Alberta Health, 75 per cent of residents over the age of 12 have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 61.3 per cent have had two doses.

A total of 2,822,412 Albertans have received at least one dose of vaccine, the ministry says.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw is not satisfied, however, as the figures mean there are still a quarter of eligible Albertans left who still have not received the vaccine.

"We need to vaccinate as many people as possible now to protect us all in the weeks and months ahead," Hinshaw said in a news release Thursday.

Meanwhile, two more Albertans have died from COVID-19, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 2,320.

Both were women. One of the women was in her 70s and lived in the Central zone, while the other was in her 80s and lived in the South zone.

Alberta officials also reported 106 new COVID-19 cases Thursday — the highest increase in weeks — and active cases continue to rise.

The number of known active cases increased by 27 from Wednesday, now standing at 676. This total has slightly increased five days in a row.

Here's how active cases break down across the province. 

• Calgary zone: 392
• Edmonton zone: 137
• North zone: 68
• South zone: 40
• Central zone: 39

Alberta labs also identified 76 cases of coronavirus variants of concern, including 65 of the delta variant. There are now 393 known active variant cases in the province. 

The number of people receiving hospital care for COVID-19 continues to decline. As of Thursday, there were 95 hospitalizations, including 26 patients in the intensive care unit.

Another 6,622 COVID-19 tests were conducted Wednesday. The test-positivity rate is 1.43 per cent.