Alberta Could Lift COVID-19 Restrictions & Scrap The Vaccine Passport This Month

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has said that he is "optimistic" the province can lift COVID-19 restrictions and remove the vaccine passport system by the end of February.

In a press conference on Tuesday, the premier said that he hopes people can be "a little more patient" as he believes the province may be able to ease public health measures soon.

"I am looking forward to being able to make decisions about moving towards relaxation of public health measures [...], and I believe that will happen this month in February," he said.

"We need to see a sustained decline in hospitalization pressure. But with the overall trends, I am very optimistic that we will be able to move forward with meaningful relaxation of public health measures this month, including the elimination of the restriction exemption, or proof of vaccination, program."

As of Tuesday, there are 1,585 Albertans hospitalized with COVID-19, and 109 of those people are in intensive care.

"I just ask people to be a little more patient as we are still at a record high number for non-ICU COVID hospital admissions. We need to see those numbers start to come down. And then I am confident we’ll be able to move forward safely and prudently with reducing the burden of public health measures on Albertans," Kenney said.

Alberta relaxed its COVID-19 isolation rules in January so that anyone who had received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine (or one dose of Janssen) is now only required to isolate for five days, instead of 10.

Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals must isolate for 10 days.