CALGARY -- Staff at the McKenzie Towne Continuing Care Centre have confirmed to CTV News that a fourth resident at the facility has died from COVID-19.

Larry Roberts, senior manager of corporate affairs at Revera, said the resident died Wednesday.

"The staff were in contact with the family to offer their condolences. There are currently 43 residents who have tested positive for COVID-19. Two of those residents are in the hospital."

The victim was a man in his 80s.

Three other residents at the care facility — a woman in her 80s, a woman in her 70s and a man in his 80s — have died since the outbreak was discovered.

Roberts adds there are 23 staff members who have also tested positive for COVID-19 and are off work. All of those employees are in self-isolation at their homes.

There are 139 residents at McKenzie Towne Continuing Care.

117 new cases of COVID-19

During the Wednesday update from Alberta Health, Premier Jason Kenney said two more Albertans have died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. He expressed his condolences for the families of the victims.

"This has been the toughest week for our province, with the total deaths increasing by eight to 11," Kenney said. "We have to be up front with Albertans – things will get worse before they get better."

Another 117 new cases of coronavirus have been discovered, mainly from an analysis of backlogged cases under investigation by Alberta Health Services.

"Over 4,500 over the past 24 hours – a record number for a single day. That backlog came about because of a shortage of a reagent, an essential element in the testing. We now have an adequate stock of those supplies," Kenney said.

While the province's health authorities conducted thousands of tests since Tuesday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health says over 98 per cent of them came back negative. She adds there have been over 50,000 COVID-19 tests completed in Alberta to date.

"I would like to, again, commend our laboratory which again leads many other jurisdictions in testing per capita."

There are now 871 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Alberta.