By Syndicated Content
By Nia Williams
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) â Canadaâs remote oil sands region in northern Alberta has become a COVID-19 hotspot, disrupting essential annual maintenance work at its massive oil sands plants.
The oil-rich province of Alberta is battling the highest rate of COVID-19 in Canada as the country grapples with a third wave of the pandemic, and on Thursday hit a record for new daily infections, topping 2,000 a day for the first time. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, home to the oil sands, has the highest rate of active cases per capita in the province.
Maintenance work is critical for production from Canadaâs oil sands, which hold the worldâs third-largest crude reserves and produce 3.1 million barrels per day, accounting for roughly three-quarters of the countryâs total output.
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There have been 2,292 workers infected with COVID-19 in current oilsands outbreaks, according to Alberta Health. There were 859 cases still active as of Wednesday, which marked the National Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job.
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The sectors for the oil industry and trades had 207 and 653 successful applicants respectively. The most claims were for the sector including municipal, education and health workers (3,840 claims) and manufacturing (1,910).
Alberta Health has not released any data on workplace transmission.
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