EDMONTON — Alberta reported fewer than 200 new cases of COVID-19 for a fifth straight day Monday, but demand for first doses of vaccine continues to wane.

The province reported 115 new infections Monday. Vaccinations among eligible Albertans continued to inch closer to the 70 per cent reopening threshold Monday with 68.8 per cent of those aged 12 and over having now received a first shot.

But, just over 3,500 new first doses were administered on Sunday, the lowest since late February according to the latest provincial data. 

More than 2.6 million first doses of vaccine have now been administered, including just over 790,000 second doses, representing 20.8 per cent of the eligible population.

Also Monday, the number of COVID-19 deaths in Alberta rose by one, up to 2,270, with the death of a Central Zone woman in her 40s. She is the 70th Albertan under the age of 50 to die due to COVID-19.

Active cases fell to 3,089 the lowest level since mid-October. 

There are now 270 people in hospital including 73 in intensive care units.

The province reported a 3.77 per cent test positivity based on approximately 3,300 tests.

VACCINE LOTTERY

Alberta entered Stage 2 of its reopening program on June 10, two weeks after reaching the target of 60 per cent of Albertans having had a first shot.

Stage 3, which lifts almost all restrictions, is set to begin two weeks after 70 per cent of eligible Albertans have received at least a first dose. 

Earlier Monday, Premier Jason Kenney announced details of the province’s vaccine lottery, aimed at getting more shots in arms as demand for first doses sags.

Alberta has among the lowest first-shot vaccination rates in Canada although it is among the leaders in second doses administered measured as a per cent of population.

All Albertans aged 18 and older are eligible to register for the announced three draws, the first of which will happen on Day 1 of the Stage 3 reopening. 

Registration for the second and third draws closes on Aug. 24 and Sept. 23. 

Each winner will have to provide proof of immunization. For the second and third prizes, winners will need to provide proof of their full immunization.

Other non-cash prizes, Kenney said during a news conference on Monday, will be announced in the coming weeks.

“We knew a point would come when we would run out of low-hanging fruit in terms of people who were eager to get the jab, and we reached that point about a week, two weeks ago,” he said.

“Now it’s a game of inches. We just have to get every single person we can.”

With files from Alex Antoneshyn

EDMONTON — Some of the ins and outs of Alberta’s COVID-19 vaccine lottery – which will see three people win $1 million – were revealed Monday.

The first seven-digit prize will be drawn on the day Alberta drops most COVID-19 restrictions, Day 1 of Stage 3 reopening.

Registration opened Monday at noon and will remain open until one week after the province reaches 70 per cent first-dose mass immunization.

Registration for the second $1-milion prize will close Aug. 24, and for the third grand prize on Sept. 23.

Each winner will have to provide proof of immunization. For the second and third prizes, winners will need to provide proof of their full immunization.

Other non-cash prizes, Premier Jason Kenney said during a news conference on Monday, will be announced in the coming weeks.

“We knew a point would come when we would run out of low-hanging fruit in terms of people who were eager to get the jab, and we reached that point about a week, two weeks ago,” he said.

“Now it’s a game of inches. We just have to get every single person we can.”

HOW IT WORKS

All Albertans aged 18 and older will be eligible to register.

Kenney said the province was exploring other programs for youth aged 12 to 17 who had been immunized.

Albertans need only register online once and they are automatically entered into all of the draws. They may register for someone else. At that point, no proof of vaccination will be needed. Health Minister Tyler Shandro said that was a design decision to make the process as easy as possible and less burdensome on administration. Instead, ID, proof of residency and immunization record will only be needed to claim a prize.

According to Shandro, the government considered several different prize schemes but after consulting lottery drafting experts and Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis, concluded the “if we had three prizes of a million each, then that was going to be enough for us to get enough folks to register for this lottery.”

Those who not allowed to register include: MLAs and their family members; political staff employed by the premier; and public service workers or contractors and employees of contractors who were involved in designing the lottery.

Albertans with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine – which only requires one dose – will be eligible for all the draws.

Any $1-million winner will not be eligible to win other prizes.

The second and third $1-milliion prizes are scheduled to be drawn on Aug. 31 and Sept. 30.

Full contest rules are available at the registration page.

As of 4 p.m. on Monday, nearly 270,000 Albertans had registered for the lottery.

WILL ALBERTA REACH 70 PER CENT IN TIME FOR JULY 1?

The slowing vaccine uptake is presenting a time crunch to the government that wants to be fully open for summer.

According to Kenney, some 48,300 people need to be vaccinated before it reaches its 70 per cent benchmark. According to the latest data, 68.7 per cent of the eligible population had been vaccinated with at least one dose.

“If we are to have a fully back-to-normal Canada Day, we have to hit 70 per cent first dose vaccination no later than this coming Thursday. Thursday, June 17,” the premier said.

He said according to government polling, 85 per cent want or are open to getting the COVID-19 shot, so it’s a matter of winning over the last 15 per cent.

“Many of them are younger men. They are typically not opposed to the vaccine; they say they’re likely to get it, but I don’t know. They’ve got busy lives or it’s just not a priority. A lot of those guys probably don’t worry too much about their health. We just need to them to get a sense or urgency,” Kenney speculated.

He announced the province’s plan to incentivize residents over the weekend in a video message taped at an empty Edmonton EXPO Centre, the capital city’s largest immunization clinic.

An associate professor in University of Calgary’s law faculty and Cumming School of Medicine said while the lottery could encourage more Albertans to get vaccinated, it may also be seen as affirming by anti-vaxxers or a political move.

“(Some) feel like 70 per cent vaccination target is not based on public heath evidence but rather was an arbitrary number that was designed to get us to certain summer activities like the Stampede, and that the government is all of a sudden is trying to push us towards that 70 per cent through collecting vaccine data from snowbirds … and now creating this lottery,” Lorian Hardcastle told CTV News Edmonton.

She also said a lottery may set a precedent or expectation, rather than increasing public trust in vaccination.

Kenney denied either was true, telling media on Monday he always expected a drop off in participation and the significance of second doses was the reason his government tied the second and third draws to full immunization.

“It’s not just for the last two per cent to get us to this 70 per cent target for Stage 3.”

Manitoba was the first Canadian province to announce a COVID-19 vaccine lottery with $2 million in prizes.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Adam Lachacz and CTV Calgary 

EDMONTON — Another attack on a Muslim woman in Edmonton is being investigated by police.

On Friday, a Black Muslim woman in her 50s was out for a walk in the area of 88 Street and 144 Avenue around 9 p.m. when an attacker approached her from behind and threw her into the pavement.

Jibril Ibrahim, Somali Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton president, who spoke on behalf of the affected family to CTV News Edmonton and knows them closely, described the incident as hate-motivated.

“She was just walking on the street in the evening, just to get a little bit of fresh air,” Ibrahim said. “She was not expecting all of a sudden someone to grab her by the neck.

“She was thrown on the ground,” he added. “That is where she sustained injuries to her face, lips, even her teeth. Also, her nose now has a crack on it, the doctors are reporting.”

The attacker fled the scene without a word, Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim said that the woman had to be taken to the hospital in a wheelchair because her knees were also injured.

After staying in hospital for the night, the woman was released to recover at home. According to Ibrahim, her entire family is still reeling from the incident.

“The victim is feeling that she has some fear, kind of traumatized by the incident and she doesn’t feel like going out on her own.”

When Ibrahim was talking about the incident to the woman, she disclosed to him that this is not the first time she has been subjected to hate and racism.

He said that many community members are scared to report incidents like this for fear of reprisal.

“A lot of people aren’t reporting it because they are afraid that reporting might cause people to follow them to their house,” Ibrahim shared. “The community, you know when we talk to them they report to us because they feel comfortable that they won’t be able to be recognized and so on.”

When reached out to for comment on the incident, the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) said that the assault was reported to them and that they are investigating the incident.

“The EPS Hate Crimes and Violent Extremism Unit has been made aware (of the incident); however, the investigation remains with the EPS Investigative Response Team (IRT) at this time,” Carolin Maran, a communications advisor with EPS, said in a statement to CTV News Edmonton.

‘WE NEED TO WALK THE TALK’

For Ibrahim, all levels of government need to step up to create coordinated responses so that hate and racism can be properly combatted.

“(People) talk about it, they show their sympathy on Facebook and Twitter but everybody just talks and leaves it there,” he said. “This problem is not going to go away.

“We don’t have to wait to call hate (for what it is) until someone gets killed.”

He believes the definition of hate crime is too narrow and out-of-date. In Ibrahim’s view, adjustments to the criminal code could give law enforcement more tools and the ability to deal with incidents like this.

“We need to look into those definitions and come up with solutions otherwise more and more, we will see more and more similar incidents of what we saw in London, Ontario,” Ibrahim said.

The provincial government announced a new grant for security upgrades to religious and cultural groups as well as a new community liaison and law enforcement hate crimes unit on Friday. Ibrahim, and others in the Muslim community, believe those measures are simply not enough.

The greatest injustice, Ibrahim shared, that people within the Somali community in Edmonton feel is that they would be safe here after immigrating from war-torn countries.

“They were expecting they could walk on the streets safely but they don’t feel that way at all. It’s very sad that people have to feel that way in their own city.” 

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson

EDMONTON — An apartment suite in the Highlands neighbourhood of Edmonton burst into flames Saturday afternoon.

Firefighters responded to the fire after 2:30 p.m. and arrived on scene at the apartment complex located in the area of 58 Street and 118 Avenue within three minutes.

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services told CTV News Edmonton they managed to contain the flames to one suite of the complex.

No injuries have been reported.

Edmonton fire continues to investigate and search for a cause. 

EDMONTON — Alberta reported another 165 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday as second dose appointments start to outpace those for first doses.

In a limited update announced on the province’s COVID-19 information website, approximately 5,799 tests were completed to give Alberta a 2.8 per cent positivity rate.

Approximately 109 new variant of concern cases were reported Sunday.

Last Sunday, June 6, there were 154 active Delta variant of concern cases in Alberta. On Sunday June 13, there were 318 cases of the variant first identified in India.One new death from COVID-19 was reported on Sunday.

There are 272 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 75 in ICU. The Calgary zone leads the province for hospitalizations with 123 patients. The Edmonton zone has 85 while the North zone has 25. The Central and South zones have 23 and 16 people in hospital, respectively.

In terms of patients receiving care in ICUs, the Calgary zone has 33 while Edmonton has 28. The North zone has seven, while the Central and South zones have 4 and 3 patients, respectively.

The province has 3,180 active cases of COVID-19 – a decrease of 67 cases since Saturday. Two weeks ago Alberta had 8,073 active infections.

The Calgary zone has approximately 42 per cent of active cases in the province with 1,320. The Edmonton zone has 800 active infections while the North zone has 559. The Central and South zones have 374 and 126 cases, respectively. One case of COVID-19 has an unknown origin.

Over 3.38 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Alberta.

Vaccination appointments for second doses outpaced first doses on Sunday.

On Saturday, it was reported that 68.5 per cent of the population eligible for immunization received one dose while 19.2 per cent were fully vaccinated.

On Sunday, 68.7 per cent of the population aged 12 and over received at least one dose – an increase of only 0.2 per cent – while 20.2 percent of the eligible population was fully immunized after receiving two doses of vaccine.

Saturday evening, the premier announced a vaccine lottery program to help incentivize first doses and drive progress towards the last stage of the province’s reopening plan.

Any Albertan aged 18 years or older who receives their first dose of vaccine prior to the province moving to Stage 3 will be eligible to register to enter the lottery for a $1 million prize.

Seventy per cent of the population eligible for vaccination needs to receive their first dose for the province to move to Stage 3 of the open for summer plan that would lift all remaining public health restrictions and permit indoor gatherings again.

According to the premier’s office, the province projects Alberta will hit the 70 per cent threshold required for Stage 3 and start the two week waiting period to reopening on Friday.