19 people in the province have now died from lab-confirmed cases of influenza, seven of them in the past week. 

Alberta Health Services released its weekly report on flu stats today (January 23).  Of the seven deaths in the past week, three occurred in the Central Zone while two were reported in the Edmonton Zone.

The Calgary Zone, which includes Airdrie, and the North Zone each had one death.  That brings the total deaths for the 2019-2020 flu season to two in the Calgary Zone.

Edmonton has been hardest hit by flu deaths with a total of 10 people passing away.  

During the entire flu season of 2018-2019 30 Albertans died, 11 of them in Calgary.

There have been 4,198 lab-confirmed cases of influenza in the province with 1,776 of them in the Calgary Zone.  The Influenza B strain of the virus is the most prevalent this season with 2,305 lab-confirmed cases compared with 1,892 of Influenza A.  Last year there were only 143 cases of Influenza B for the entire season.  

787 Albertans have been hospitalized this season with 303 in the Calgary Zone and 309 in Edmonton.

So far, 1,335,178 Albertans have had the flu vaccine administered with 578,732 of them in the Calgary Zone.

Last year, the flu season lasted until nearly the end of March.