Wood Buffalo is seeing no new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, announced on Thursday 477 new cases across the province.

This raises the provincial total to 27,042 with 4,921 cases currently active.

The number of active cases in Fort McMurray is dropping for the second day in a row as three more individuals have recovered, putting the total at 36.

The rural areas didn’t see any new changes, keeping the total of active cases at seven.

In total, 371 individuals across the RMWB – 307 in Fort McMurray and 64 in the rural areas – have recovered.

They are among the 21,803 who’ve recovered across the province. This represents under 81 per cent of reported cases.

There were also five new deaths from COVID-19 in Alberta over the past day – raising the total to 318.

One of the deaths throughout the pandemic was in Fort McMurray.

Meanwhile, Dr. Hinshaw also announced updates to the symptom list for Albertans under the age of 18.

A runny nose and sore throat are no longer triggers for youth to have to self-isolate as the number of positive cases where youth had just one of these symptoms is very small.

If these symptoms pop up after being in contact with a positive case, children will still need to self-isolate for 10 days.

Also, if a youth is experiencing just one symptom, such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, or loss of taste and smell, the province is recommending they stay home for 24 hours to see if their condition improves.

If it doesn’t, then self-isolating and getting tested are encouraged.

If they have two or more symptoms, it’s recommended they stay home for 10 days or until a test comes back negative and their symptoms have improved.