Alberta Health confirmed an additional five deaths and 907 cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday.
Currently there are 240 people in the hospital, with 54 of those in the ICU.
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Four of the five deaths reported Friday were in the Edmonton zone. Three of those — a woman in her 70s, a woman in her 80s and a man in his 80s — were linked to the outbreak at the Edmonton General Care centre.
The other death was a man in his 80s who wasn’t linked to any outbreaks.
The fifth death was a man in his 70s who was linked to the outbreak at Wing Kei Care Centre in Calgary.
There are currently 8,593 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. The majority of those cases continue to be reported in the major centres, with 3,572 in the Edmonton zone and 3,553 in the Calgary zone.
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Elsewhere around the province, there are 353 cases in the Central zone, 512 in the South zone and 553 reported in the North zone. There are currently 50 Albertans with COVID-19 not affiliated to a specific zone.
Since mid-March, 37,312 Albertans have been confirmed to have COVID-19. Of those, 28,321 have recovered. The province has stopped releasing testing numbers.
On Thursday, the premier announced new restrictions for two weeks to help stop the rising case number and hopefully stop the health system from being overwhelmed.
Indoor group fitness classes and team sports will be prohibited for two weeks from Nov. 13-27, Jason Kenney said. This applies to the Calgary area, Edmonton area, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge and Red Deer.
Restaurants and pubs in the above areas, as well as areas on “enhanced status” must stop liquor sales by 10 p.m. and close by 11 p.m. This measure will also be in place from Nov. 13-27.
Kenney also said amateur singing, dancing and theatre groups will also have to take a two-week break when enhanced pandemic measures begin Friday.
“This two-week push is, I believe, our last chance to avoid more restrictive measures that I and most Albertans desperately want to avoid,” Kenney said.
–– With files from Caley Ramsay, Global News