Alberta reports 49 new COVID-19 cases, one additional death

Alberta reported 49new coronavirus cases on Thursday, a day when Canada's total number of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases surpassed 100,000.

Onedeath was recorded in the province in the last 24 hours a woman in her 80s from Edmonton zone who was not connected to a continuing-care facility.

Alberta's numbers remain stable almost one week into Stage2 of the province's relaunch strategyallowing more businesses to reopen.

EarlierThursday, the prime minister said as parts of the economy reopen across the country, the federal government will begintesting a voluntary nationwide contact-tracing app.

Testing and contact tracing "is crucial" to safely restore the economy,Justin Trudeau said in Ottawa.

Alberta introduced its contact-tracing mobile app ABTraceTogether on May 1.

Alberta app losessteam

At the time Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of HealthDr. DeenaHinshaw calledthe app "a vital stepin preventing further spread of the virus."

Hinshaw and other public health officials in Canada and around the world have repeatedly stressed that testing and contact tracing will play a vital role in effortsto slow the spread of coronavirus.

But while103,000 people downloaded Alberta's mobile app in the first week, barely the same number of peoplehavedownloaded it in the six weeks since. To date the app currently has just over 207,000registered users.

• Alberta's COVID-19 tracking app is flawed but worth using, experts say

The province is doing better than most of its counterparts when it comes to testing.

Labs across the province have performed 364,729tests since the pandemic began. Upwards of 6,000 people are tested each day and the province encourages everyone to go in for testing, whether they think they have been exposed to COVID-19 or not.

Should masks be mandatory?

'We, as a government, have no interest in mandatory masking'

4 years ago

Duration 0:49

Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro says the provincial government has no interest in mandatory masking during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many health officials also consider the wearing of maskscrucial to beating COVID-19, with somejurisdictions now making masks mandatory.

Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro saidThursday hehas no interest in doing so.

A group of doctors wrote an open letter to the provincial governmentcalling for masks to bemandatory in indoor spaces away from home, on public transit and in crowds.

But Shandrosaidhe hasn't seen any evidence that masks need to be mandatory.

"I think that part of the reason that we've had such a good response to COVID-19 is because Albertans want to comply with our public health measures, and there has to be a buy-in by Albertans," Shandro said.

Latest numbers

Alberta nowhas 489 active cases. Thirty-four people are in hospital, including six in intensive care.

The number of deaths is now 152.

The province completed 6,982 tests for the disease in the last 24 hours.

Here is a regional breakdown of active case across the province:

• Calgary zone: 222.
• Edmonton zone: 200.
• Central zone:2.
• South zone:30.
• Northzone:33.
• Unknown:2.

Hinshaw will next update the province on COVID-19 Friday afternoon.

• Canada tops 100,000 reported coronavirus cases