In a Christmas gift to those who live alone, the province will allow single Albertans one visit with loved ones over the holidays, Premier Jason Kenney said Tuesday.

That slight loosening of restrictions from Dec. 23 to Dec. 28 comes as daily new case numbers have fallen by nearly 50 per cent of their peak of nearly 1,900 in mid-December.

“If this is one small way for people who feel particularly isolated at Christmas to feel a sense of contact, it’s a reasonable measure for us to take,” Kenney told reporters.

Prior to the announcement, any contact with people outside their own household was banned, with a violation subject to a possible $1,000 fine.

Both Kenney and Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health, said the move takes note of the mental health toll of the pandemic.

“This approach strives to balance the mental wellness of those living alone and the need to limit COVID-19 spread,” said Hinshaw, adding each household can welcome a maximum of two singles.

While they noted the daily number of new cases — which totalled 1,021 over the previous day — has plateaued and even fallen, the test positivity rate of 7.1 per cent isn’t that far below the peak of more than nine per cent recorded earlier this month.

And Kenney noted the province isn’t in a position to allow any major exemptions that would risk seeing case, hospitalization and death numbers surge again — a trend that exploded following Thanksgiving.

“There’s absolutely no doubt we would lose all the progress we made, we would be back to exponential growth,” said the premier.

Those hospitalization numbers, he said, remain troublingly high with 802 people receiving treatment, with 152 of those in intensive care — figures that continue to inch up.

And the province has recorded 11 more deaths from the virus, bringing the total to 871.

One of those deaths was a man in his 40s in the Central zone, with Alberta Health saying there are no known co-morbidities involved.

While many doctors in Alberta insist the province should have moved weeks earlier to impose the stronger restrictions that took effect 10 days ago, Kenney again insisted he’s acted prudently with a layered approach of measures that began in late November.

“Most of the impact we’re seeing right now is the result of the measures taken in November … and the most stringent restrictions that came into force 10 days ago, we will only begin to see the impacts of those in the days to come,” said Kenney.