On Monday afternoon, the province announced it would open up testing to all Albertans who are showing COVID-19 symptoms.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the province would be expanding eligibility again for any Albertans who are suffering from a fever, cough, shortness of breath, runny nose or sore throat.
To get tested, Albertans are asked to use the online COVID-19 self-assessment tool and are asked not to call 811 Health Link.
In the past week, Alberta opened up testing to essential workers, anyone over the age of 65 and anyone living with a senior. Even after expanding the testing eligibility, the province had more testing capacity, so they will be expanding it to anyone who has symptoms.
"As long as we maintain our testing and lab capacity, it is my hope that we can continue to offer this broad access to testing," Hinshaw said.
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Hinshaw said over the past several weeks, the rate of infection for Albertans who have been tested has been pretty consistent, with two per cent of tests coming back positive.
Since Sunday afternoon, there have been 81 new cases of COVID-19 in the province, bringing the total to 1,732 people who have been infected. Of these cases, some 877 have recovered, 54 more than yesterday.
Hinshaw said she expects 254 cases are a result of community transmission.
There were two additional deaths from COVID-19 in the province overnight, as a woman and a man in their 80s in the Calgary zone passed away.
