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Courtesy of Alberta Health
By Shaun Penner
COVID-19 UPDATE: March 19

Grande Prairie adds 15 new cases of COVID-19; no new deaths recorded in Alberta

Mar 19, 2021 | 3:42 PM

Alberta Health is reporting no new deaths from COVID-19 on Friday, as the City of Grande Prairie added 15 new cases for March 18.

The City of Grande Prairie also posted 14 recoveries for March 18, raising the active case load in the city by one to 139 as of the end of day Thursday.

The County of Grande Prairie added two new cases and four recoveries. There are now 56 active cases there.

Across Alberta there were 696 new cases after 11,918 tests were completed. The positivity rate on those tests was about 5.8 per cent.

Updated case totals among Peace Region municipalities as of the end of day March 18 are as follows:

  • City of Grande Prairie: 1,869 cases (139 active, 1,707 recovered, 23 deaths)
  • County of Grande Prairie: 546 cases (56 active, 487 recovered, three deaths)
  • M.D. of Greenview: 436 cases (25 active, 408 recovered, three deaths)
  • Birch Hills County: 12 cases (all recovered)
  • M.D. of Spirit River: 49 cases (two active, 47 recovered)
  • Saddle Hills County: 14 cases (all recovered)
  • M.D. of Smoky River: 112 cases (102 recovered, 10 deaths)
  • Big Lakes County: 468 cases (eight active, 449 recovered, 11 deaths)
  • M.D. of Lesser Slave River: 255 cases (four active, 251 recovered)
  • M.D. of Peace: 483 cases (23 active, 460 recovered)
  • M.D. of Fairview: 59 cases (two active, 56 recovered, one death)
  • Clear Hills County: 106 cases (105 recovered, one death)
  • Northern Sunrise County: 241 cases (five active, 235 recovered, one death)
  • County of Northern Lights: 98 cases (two active, 96 recoveries)
  • Mackenzie County: 1,136 cases (204 active, 913 recovered, 19 deaths)
    Made with Flourish

There were 129 new cases involving variants of concern in Alberta, meaning there are now 698 active cases involving variants in Alberta, which is 12.9 per cent of all active cases.

There have been 1,318 variant cases identified overall, including 23 in the North Zone.

Hospitalizations increased by 12 to 276 in Alberta, with 48 of those people in an ICU. In the North Zone 29 people are in hospital, four of whom are in intensive care.

As no new deaths were recorded for the first time since October, the COVID-19 death toll in Alberta remains at 1,957.

There have now been 439,069 doses of vaccine administered in Alberta. A total of 92,935 Albertans have been fully immunized with two doses.

by Shaun Penner