What you need to know about COVID-19 in Alberta on Thursday, June 25

The latest:

• The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) says the average price of a house in Calgary could drop by tens of thousands of dollars over the next two years in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• A bat expert in Alberta says biologists are still concerned that bat populations in North America could contract COVID-19.
• The Alberta government has quietly halted the closure of 17 provincial parks and recreation sites this year because of COVID-19.
• Alberta is investing $10 million into targeted serology testing to help track the spread of COVID-19 across the province.
• Alberta industries, including oil and gas, will have to resume all environmental reporting as of July 15, thegovernment announced Tuesday. The requirements had been suspended because of the pandemic.
• Alberta reported 26 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday, with one additional new death.
• A total of 4,919 people have recovered from COVID-19 in the Calgary area, and 673 have recovered in the Edmonton area.

What you need to know today in Alberta:

Alberta will soon begin testing forCOVID-19 at community pharmacies,Health Minister Tyler Shandrosaid Thursday.

Twenty pharmacies mostly located in Calgary and Edmonton will offer swab tests to Albertans without symptoms and with no known exposure to COVID-19.

The Alberta Biz Connect website has health and safety guidelines for general workplaces and specific industry sectors.

Alberta reported 26new cases on Thursday and one new death. The death was a patient at the Misericordia Community Hospital in Edmonton.

In all, 154people have died of COVID-19 in Alberta.

As of Thursday,there were 506 active cases in the province. More than 415,000tests had been completed.

The regional breakdown of cases on Thursday afternoonwas:

• Edmonton zone: 237 active cases,673 recovered.
• Calgary zone: 207 active cases,4,919 recovered.
• North zone: 33 active cases,243 recovered.
• South zone: 23 active cases,1,258 recovered.
• Central zone: 3 active cases,86 recovered.
• Unknown: 3 active cases,12 recovered.

There are 38 people in hospital, eight of them in intensive care.

What you need to know today in Canada:

The first wave of COVID-19 is subsiding in Canada, with daily case numbers and hospitalizations falling to rates not seen since the beginning of the pandemic. And experts say whatwe've learned could help us prevent a second wavealtogether.

The federal government is to launch a program today aimed at encouraging students to volunteer in the fight against COVID-19.

WestJet has laid off 3,333 workersand is planning to consolidate and contract out much of its operations as the pandemic continues to sink the majority of demand for air travel.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, continues to recommend people stay two metres apart from others to curb COVID-19 as the economy reopens and countries like Britain relax their distancing rules.

Respirologist on Alberta's planned serology tests and concerns about Toronto's reopening

4 years ago

Duration 8:35

Dr. Samir Gupta says Alberta's testing may help to understand how far the coronavirus spread but he's doubtful we've reached herd immunity.

Some Canadians are getting unwelcome surprises this month:smaller Canada emergency response benefit(CERB) payments than they expected.

As of 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, there were 102,622confirmed and presumptive coronavirus cases in Canada, with 65,425of those listed by provinces and territories as recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial data, regional health information and CBC's reporting stood at 8,552.

The coronavirus has sickened more than 8.6million people worldwide and killed at least 460,256,according todata compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Self-assessment and supports:

Alberta Health Services has an online self-assessment tool that you can use to determine if you have symptoms of COVID-19, but testing is open to anyone, even without symptoms.

The province says Albertans who have returned to Canada from other countries must self-isolate. Unless your situation is critical and requires a call to 911, Albertans are advised to call Health Link at 811 before visiting a physician, hospital or other health-care facility.

If you have symptoms, even mild, you are to self-isolate for 10 days from the onset of symptoms.

You can find Alberta Health Services' latest coronavirus updates here.

The province also operates a confidential mental health support line at 1-877-303-2642 and addiction help line at 1-866-332-2322, available from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

Online resources are available for advice on handling stressful situations and ways to talk with children.

There is a 24-hour family violence information line at 310-1818 to get anonymous help in more than 170 languages, and Alberta's One Line for Sexual Violence is available at 1-866-403-8000, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.