EDMONTON, AB – A small change to public health restrictions for single Albertans over the holidays.

Premier Jason Kenney announcing Tuesday, that between Dec. 23 and Dec. 28, single Albertans can attend one event at a household.

That event can be attended by up to two single people at once.

Kenney says this exemption will make a “world of difference” for single Albertans who would otherwise be alone over the holidays.

He also reiterated the importance of keeping holiday gatherings within households this year, saying Albertans have made progress over the past couple of weeks but there is still a long way to go.

Alberta reported 1,021 new cases of COVID-19 out of 14,199 tests for a provincial positivity rate of 7.2 percent.

There are 802 people in hospital – 152 of them in the ICU – and there were 11 additional deaths.

Alberta’s active case count sits at 18,311 which is a decline of 854 from Monday’s update.

In Lethbridge, there were 15 new cases reported and one additional death. The number of active cases remained the same day-over-day at 155.

Click here for the latest local, national, and international COVID-19 data.

Meanwhile, Lethbridge is set to receive 975 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

The doses come from a second shipment which arrived in Alberta this week.

Lethbridge is one of ten so called “rural” centres to be receiving that number of doses along with Brooks, Pincher Creek and Medicine Hat.

Red Deer will get 1,950 doses while Edmonton and Calgary are each receiving 6,825 from this second Pfizer shipment.

All doses will be offered to health-care workers and long-term care workers.