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Nearly 40 per cent of Alberta’s active cases are now variant cases as the province reported another 600 variant cases of COVID-19 on Sunday.

With an estimated 600 new variant cases detected, 38 per cent of Alberta’s total active cases are variants of concern, according to Alberta Health. Just over two weeks ago, the variant cases represented only 11 per cent of the province’s active case count.

The update comes the day after the province reported a “significant” outbreak of the highly contagious P.1 variant which was first identified in Brazil. The spread of P.1 in the community is concerning because research suggests the strain is up to 2.5 times more transmissible than the currently dominant strain.

Alberta Health told Postmedia Saturday the outbreak involved a traveller who returned from out-of-country, but said Sunday they were no longer able to confirm that detail.

Alberta reported an estimated total of 950 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, which came from about 11,200 completed tests for a test positivity rate of approximately eight per cent.

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According to Alberta Health, hospitalizations remain stable. When the number of hospitalizations was last updated on Thursday, there were 292 in hospital which included the 59 receiving care in intensive-care units.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, once again encouraged people to follow the public health measures in place on her Twitter account Sunday.

Following the COVID-19 public health restrictions is an act of kindness that protects you, your loved ones and your community,” Hinshaw said.

Alberta Health released only preliminary data on Sunday due to the long weekend.

“In the meantime, please continue to follow the health measures that are in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 and help protect those around you,” said Hinshaw on Twitter.

About 8,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered by the end of the day on Saturday. Alberta has given approximately 693,000 doses to date.

AHS’ online booking tool and Health Link’s phone line at 811 will open on Monday at 8 a.m. for those who were born in or before 1963 with an eligible underlying condition within Phase 2B of the province’s vaccine rollout. Additional birth years in Phase 2B will become eligible as more vaccines arrive.

To prepare for the influx of people looking to book their appointment, the online tool will be offline from 9 p.m. on Sunday to midnight, and between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Monday.

“We have made enhancements to the online booking tool to allow up to three additional family members who are eligible to receive their vaccine to book at the same time, and at the same clinic,” said AHS in a tweet on Sunday.

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Phase 2B is the largest eligible group to date and represents about 650,000 Albertans. AHS encourages people to try later in the day if call volumes are high or the online tool struggles to load.

Phase 2B began at participating pharmacies in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer last week and the province started immunizing those with eligible underlying conditions such as cancer patients, transplant recipients, individuals with disabilities, dementia and other conditions that present higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19.

Cases among seniors aged 80 and older have not seen the increase that other populations in Alberta have during this third wave of infections. Many in this age category received their COVID-19 vaccine in the early stages of the province’s immunization program, which has given them a defence against the virus.

Last week, however, there was a small increase in cases among those older than 80 and outbreaks were declared in several new continuing-care sites.

As of Thursday, provincewide there are 25 long-term care and supportive living sites with outbreaks.