Alberta continues progress on COVID cases as decision looms on Calgary, Brooks

Those communities accounted for 85 per cent of active cases of COVID-19, though they were permitted to open retailers along with the rest of the province on May 14.

The return of maternity services to the hospitals is contingent on the Calgary zone maintaining a manageable number of COVID-19 cases in upcoming weeks, AHS said.

There have been a total of 6,768 cases - 5,710 recovered and 926 active - and 132 deaths across the province since the pandemic began in March.

On Friday morning, May 22, Kenney said the province will be proceeding with the next phase of reopening of businesses and services in Calgary and Brooks on Monday, May 25. Wood Buffalo's rural areas also continues to have one active case on the Chipewyan Prairie First Nation and two recoveries in undisclosed rural hamlets.

The Premier is asking all Albertans to continue to follow physical distancing and all protocols set up by Alberta Health Services.

"Albertans have done a great job of flattening the curve of COVID-19 infections and reducing the risk to the dedicated women and men working in our hospitals", explained Shandro in a statement released Friday.

"We need to remember that moving into the fall we always see a spike in, for example, influenza, [and] other respiratory viruses", she said.