There are more cases of COVID-19 in Alberta.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw says its been three weeks since the first case but Albertans would be forgiven for thinking its been longer.

"We have confirmed 67 new cases of COVID-19 in Alberta," she says. "There have now been 486 cases identified in the province. We have also learned that 13 symptomatic individuals from the Mackenzie long term care facility have now tested positive, an increase of eight from yesterday."

Hinshaw says while only a small percentage of the population overall have the virus, they don't know how many actual cases may be out there and with fewer than 500 cases there are ten people in intensive care units so they need to get a handle on this before hospitals are overwhelmed.

Alberta Health Services says they're looking at all contingencies when it comes to COVID-19.

AHS Vice President Dr. Mark Joffe says that includes using hotels if necessary.

"That's not necessarily to provide acute care for individuals who require hospitalization, but we may have individuals who are diagnosed with COVID-19 who are living in a circumstance where we don't really want them to return, they may be exposed to too many individuals, we are going to need space for those individuals to recover," Dr. Joffe says.

He says they could also use other health facilities that have been closed like the former Southern Alberta Children's Hospital which has been turned into a diagnostic centre.