Will Alberta announce new COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday?

As the COVID-19 case numbers in Alberta climb and variants of concern continue to spread, many people are wondering if the province is on the cusp of announcing tighter health restrictions.

Alberta’s emergency management cabinet committee was originally scheduled to meet on Wednesday, but the meeting has since been moved up to Tuesday morning.

This, as Alberta Health announced Monday that 887 new COVID-19 cases had been identified in the last 24 hours, including 432 variants of concern.

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Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, is expected to provide an update during a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.

As of Monday, the provincial government was reporting 10,582 active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta with 312 people being cared for in hospital, including 76 people in intensive care.

Hinshaw said 39 per cent of the active cases in the province are variants.

I am concerned about the rising cases, including variants, in our province. Please keep making safe choices and limit in-person interactions whenever possible to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 provincewide. (10/10)

— Dr. Deena Hinshaw (@CMOH_Alberta) April 5, 2021

More than 9,102 COVID-19 tests were completed Sunday, resulting in a provincial positivity rate of 9.9 per cent. According to an Alberta Health spokesperson, that is the fourth-highest positivity rate the province has recorded to date.

“I am concerned about the rising cases, including variants, in our province,” Hinshaw tweeted on Monday. “Please keep making safe choices and limit in-person interactions whenever possible to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 provincewide.”

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On Thursday, Premier Jason Kenney warned Alberta was “now in a significant new wave of COVID-19″ but stopped short of implementing new restrictions.

Alberta has been in Step 2 of the government’s “path forward” plan since March 1.

Step 2 was based on a benchmark of Alberta having fewer than 450 COVID-19 hospitalizations and declining.

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— with files from Caley Ramsay and Emily Mertz, Global News