In the City of Grande Prairie, 68 new COVID-19 cases were reported today (April 22) from the last two days, and 102 people recovered. The active total is 451 with 2,403 recoveries.

In the County of Grande Prairie, 30 new cases were added in the last two days, and 38 people recovered. There’s now 203 active cases and 807 recoveries.

Peace Region totals:

Provincially, Alberta reported 1,857 new cases from 17,524 tests completed and our positivity rate is about 10.7 per cent. Right now, 19,182 cases are active in the province. The recovered total has reached 155,851.

There’s 518 people in the hospital with the virus, with 116 of these in intensive care. This is 42 more hospitalizations than last reported and 11 more ICU admissions. In the North Zone, there’s 47 people in the hospital with nine of these admitted to intensive care.

Alberta has reported three more COVID-related deaths, for a total of 2,054 since the start of the pandemic.

There’s been 1,326 more cases of variants of concern found. Of the active cases, 11,418, or 59.5 per cent, are variants. In the North Zone, 1,319 variant cases are active and 895 have recovered.

The first cases of the B.1.617 variant first identified in Denmark, which has also been found in California and, according to Dr. Hinshaw, is a “key driver” in the rise of current cases in India.

“This variant was in a returning interprovincial traveller to Alberta, and no additional cases of this variant have been detected to date.

“As with all new variants, research is underway to understand what may be different about the B.1.617 variant, how it spreads and if it creates more severe illness. So far, we are calling this a variant of interest as we work with colleagues across the country to monitor the latest findings on this variant as evidence emerges from around the world.”

There have now been 1,276,584 vaccine doses administered, with 252,843 Albertans fully immunized with two doses.