Everything you need to know about COVID-19 in Alberta on Sunday, April 18

CBC News | Posted: April 18, 2021 7:41 PM | Last Updated: April 19, 2021

Thousands of vaccination appointments go unused as health officials beg Albertans to get vaccinated

The latest COVID-19 numbers and restrictions:

• Alberta reported 1,516 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, as the province's third wave approaches the height of its second wave in December.
• Alberta's total active cases now sit at 17,935, up from 17,307 on Saturday.
• Nearly half the cases are in Calgary, while a quarter are in Edmonton.
• To date, more than 150,000 Albertans have recovered from COVID-19.
• The more dangerous and highly transmissible variant cases continue to surge and are now the dominant strains of the virus in Alberta, accounting for 54.5 per cent of total active cases.

• There were 451 people in hospital, 103 of whom are in intensive care. Three more people have died, for a total of 2,040 deaths.
• The provincial positivity rate is 9.8 per cent, and the R-value is 1.12, meaning that, on average, each person with COVID-19 will infect more than one other person.
• Calgary public and Catholic schools will shift all Grade 7 to 12 students to online learning on Monday due to a large increase in COVID-19 cases among students in that age group.
• Officials said Thursday that education leaders in Edmonton were considering following Calgary's lead.
• Also effective next Monday, all extracurricular youth sport, recreational and performance activities in Calgary must either take place outdoors or be paused for two weeks. The pause applies to all Calgary youth in Grades 7 to 12, including home-schooled students.
• As of Thursday, there were alerts or outbreaks at 478 schools, which represents 20 per cent of all schools in Alberta, with 2,772 cases in total.

The latest on vaccines:

• On Thursday, Alberta health officials once again urged eligible Albertans to get a vaccine as soon as possible, regardless of type — as mass AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccination clinics immunize thousands fewer people a day than they could.
• Phase 2 of the AstraZeneca-Oxford rollout began April 6, to Albertans born from 1957 to 1966 who do not have chronic underlying health conditions, through hundreds of pharmacies and mass vaccination clinics in Edmonton and Calgary.
• The mass clinic at the Edmonton Expo Centre can administer 7,000 AstraZeneca shots per day, but did 280 on Wednesday, while the mass clinic at the Calgary Telus Convention Centre has also faced low appointment numbers.
• Alberta officials say part of the issue is hesitancy brought on by reports of extremely rare blood clots occurring in people who have received AstraZeneca, also known as Covishield.
• On Sunday, federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu said provinces and territories are free to use AstraZeneca for anyone over 18, as it's approved by Health Canada. She said there is nothing stopping provinces for approving it for those under age 55.
• Alberta Health said as of Friday, it had more than 170,000 unused AstraZeneca doses ready.

• The risk of a blood clot is exponentially higher for people who become infected with COVID-19 than for those who receive AstraZeneca, Hinshaw stressed again on Thursday.
• About one in four people hospitalized with COVID-19 get blood clots, she said, while Canada has seen just two cases of blood clots associated with the 700,000 AstraZeneca doses given out.
• It is far more likely to experience blood clots from smoking, falls/injuries and other common everyday occurrences, Alberta Health Services said.
• Conversely, AstraZeneca's first dose reduces infection by 60 to 70 per cent and, importantly, hospitalization and risk of death is reduced by 80 per cent.
• Starting Saturday, AHS will accept walk-ins for eligible recipients for the AstraZeneca vaccine at the existing rapid flow clinic at the Edmonton EXPO Centre and at the Southport clinic in Calgary.
• Phase 2C of the rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines began on Monday, expanding to include 240,000 nurses, doctors, dentists and any health-care workers in patient care facilities or providing direct patient care in the community.
• Other groups in 2C, like residents and support staff at congregate living facilities at risk for large outbreaks like correctional facilities, homeless shelters, meat-packing plants and group homes, and caregivers of Albertans at risk of severe outcomes, are expected to begin in the following weeks.
• Alberta had delivered 1,121,901 vaccine doses and fully immunized 220,472 people with two doses of vaccine as of Saturday.

The latest on more dangerous variants:

• There were 800 new cases involving variants of concern on Sunday.
• There are 9,768 active variant cases, which comprise 54.5 per cent of all active cases.
• 6,806 people have recovered and 53 people have died from variant infections.
• As of Sunday, Alberta had had 16,428 cases linked to variant B117, first detected in the United Kingdom. Another 31 cases have been linked to variant B1351, first detected in South Africa, and 168 cases have been linked to variant P1, which is now spreading widely in Brazil.

The latest on restrictions and reopenings:

• Amid the surging COVID-19 and variant cases, on April 6 the Alberta government reimposed Step 1 restrictions, including closing restaurants and bars to in-person dining, lowering retail store capacity to 15 per cent and banning low-intensity group fitness activities.
• Hinshaw warned this week that if case and hospitalization growth does not slow soon, further public health measures may be required.
• However, government officials say they are optimistic that outdoor festivals and events such as the Calgary Stampede will go ahead this summer.

See which regions are being hit hardest:

• Calgary zone: 7,879, up from 7,622 reported on Saturday (59,044 recovered).
• Edmonton zone: 4,788, up from 4,606 (57,015 recovered).
• North zone: 2,441, up from 2,363 (14,574 recovered).
• South zone: 905, down from 924 (8,336 recovered).
• Central zone: 1,849, up from 1,734 (11,826 recovered).
• Unknown: 73, up from 58 (25 recovered).

Here are the latest Alberta COVID-19 stories:

How Alberta compares to other provinces and territories:

• For the latest on what's happening in the rest of Canada and around the world, see here.