The number of COVID-19 cases in the province continues to rise, including the Cochrane-Springbank region.

On Saturday, 79 additional cases were confirmed in Alberta, bringing the total number of cases to 621.  

There are now eight confirmed cases in the Cochrane-Springbank area, an increase of three since Friday's update.

378 of the provincial cases are in the Calgary zone that Cochrane belongs to.  The province also says there have been 38 hospitalizations with 12 people admitted to intensive care units.  They suspect that up to 54 cases may be due to community transmission.

Twenty of the cases have been identified in staff and residents of continuing care facilities, including 15 in the McKenzie Towne Long Term Care facility in Calgary.

There are now 53 cases where the patient has recovered.

The government said it would be pausing some health construction projects and non-essential service contracts in order to protect patients, families, and staff providing key services inside health-care facilities,  Alberta Health Services has informed some contractors and vendors that provide non-essential services at some health facilities that their projects will be temporarily paused.

These include non-essential delivery services and facility maintenance, such as flooring replacement, departmental renovations or lighting retrofit projects.

COVID-19 Info for Albertans