The active total of COVID-19 cases in Fort McMurray and the rural areas continue to drop.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, announced on Wednesday 259 new cases across the province.

There are currently 6,599 active cases across Alberta, while there have been a total of 124,090 positive tests. There are also 539 Albertans in the hospital for the virus, 94 of which are in ICUs.

Locally, Fort McMurray didn’t see any new cases while adding six recoveries, putting the active total at 68. This is the first provincial update since October the community didn’t add any new cases.

The rural areas had a previously reported case removed from the provincial map which lowers the total of active cases to seven.

There continue to be no active cases in Wood Buffalo National Park.

In total, 1,757 individuals across the RMWB – 1,624 in Fort McMurray, 124 in the rural areas, and nine in Wood Buffalo National Park – have recovered.

They are among the 116,820 who’ve recovered across the province. This represents over 94 per cent of reported cases.

There were also 11 new deaths from COVID-19 in Alberta over the past 24 hours – raising the total to 1,671.

To date, three individuals in Fort McMurray have died as a result of the virus.