Alberta drops remaining COVID restrictions as it says new case numbers keep falling

The Alberta government is lifting the few pandemic restrictions that remain in place, saying the province is moving past the Omicron wave as COVID-19 hospitalizations decline steadily.

The government announced the decision in a news release late Monday afternoon, saying it will move to Step 3 of its reopening plan at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.

Pandemic measures that will end include mandatory masking on public transit and isolation for people who test positive for COVID-19 or have symptoms.

The government says isolation will still be recommended for those with symptoms or a positive COVID-19 test.

The news release says Alberta's rate of new hospitalizations has been declining since its peak on April 26, when there were 20.7 new COVID-19 admissions per day per million people.

It says as of June 9, the weekly average of new hospitalizations fell to 6.6 per day per million people.