OTTAWA — The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times eastern):
5:50 p.m.
Alberta is announcing 652 new cases of COVID-19 and 38 additional deaths due to the virus.
It’s the highest number of deaths reported in a single day in the province.
There are 819 people in hospital and 132 are in intensive care.
The province’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, says there is also one confirmed infection in a school.
Students in Alberta resumed in-class learning yesterday.
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2:35 p.m.
Saskatchewan is reporting 248 new cases of COVID-19.
Health officials say five more residents have died from the virus, bringing the province’s pandemic death toll to 204.
The province says 191 people are in hospital, with 29 people in intensive care.
The Saskatchewan Party government announced it’s extending the current public health rules until Jan. 29.
The orders include a ban on household visitors and reduced capacity for businesses.
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2:25 p.m.
Ontario is imposing a stay-at-home order starting Thursday as part of several new restrictions meant to bring down surging COVID-19 infections.
The province is also declaring a state of emergency, just as it did in the first wave of the pandemic.
Schools in five hot spots in southern Ontario, including Toronto and Hamilton, will remain closed to in-person learning until Feb. 10.
The new measures include also limiting the operating hours of non-essential businesses, capping outdoor gatherings to five and boosting enforcement of the rules.
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2:20 p.m.
Nova Scotia health authorities say more than 3,800 COVID-19 vaccines had been administered as of last weekend as the province rolls out the first phase of its vaccine plan.
They say the province has received 13,000 vaccine doses so far, and additional shipments are expected to arrive weekly.
Phase one of the rollout is aimed at immunizing front-line health-care workers and residents of long-term care facilities.
The province says one new case of the disease has been identified in central Nova Scotia and is a close contact of a previously reported case.
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1:55 p.m.
New Brunswick is reporting two more deaths linked to COVID-19.
Health officials say the deaths involve one person in their 70s and one in their 80s who were residents of a retirement facility in Saint John.
The province is also reporting 17 new cases of COVID-19, one of which is connected to a primary school in New Maryland.
New Brunswick has 219 active reported cases of COVID-19.
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1:40 p.m.
Manitoba is reporting 90 additional COVID-19 cases today and eight deaths.
Health officials say it’s the first time since October that fewer than 100 new cases have been registered.
The provincial government imposed strict rules on public gatherings and business openings in mid-November, and case counts started dropping a few week later.
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12:45 p.m.
Procurement Minister Anita Anand says the extra 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine the federal government has secured come from the 56 million doses Ottawa had an option to purchase.
Anand says it remains possible that Canada could decide to buy the other 36 million doses too.
She says the federal government is driving hard in its negotiations to ensure early deliveries.
She says the fact that the bulk of the extra 20 million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech are to arrive in the second and third quarter of this year was the reason Ottawa decided to exercise that option.
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12:35 p.m.
The Manitoba government is expanding the eligibility for one of its COVID-19 relief programs for businesses.
Premier Brian Pallister says hotels, transportation operators and janitorial service companies will now be able to get up to $10,000 in grants if they have been forced to reduce operations due to public health orders.
The grants have already been available to a wide array of small- and medium-sized businesses and charities.
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12:15 p.m.
Canada’s chief public health officer says there is light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to COVID-19, but the country remains on an “ever-worsening trajectory.”
Dr. Theresa Tam says the months ahead might be harder than what the country has experienced since the beginning of the pandemic.
She says there have now been more than 668,000 cases of COVID-19 in Canada, including 17,086 deaths, according to national figures updated Monday evening.
She says there is now an average of more than 8,100 new cases reported daily.
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12:10 p.m.
Prince Edward Island is reporting one new case of COVID-19 today.
Dr. Heather Morrison, the chief medical officer of health, says the latest case involves a male in his 30s who had travelled outside Atlantic Canada.
There are currently eight active cases on the Island and no one is in hospital with the disease.
P.E.I. has reported a total of 103 COVID-19 infections.
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11:45 a.m.
New data indicates Ontario’s health system will be overwhelmed and deaths from COVID-19 will exceed those in the first wave unless there is a significant reduction in contacts between residents.
The data projects that under the current COVID-19 restrictions, daily deaths from the disease will double from 50 to 100 by the end of February.
Projections show there will be about 500 COVID-19 patients in intensive care by January and potentially more than 1,000 by February in more severe scenarios.
Experts compiling projections for the government say the growth of COVID-19 is accelerating in Ontario, growing at seven per cent on the “worst days.”
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11:30 a.m.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government has reached a deal with Pfizer to buy an extra 20 million doses of the vaccine it produced with its German partner BioNTech.
He says that means Canada will receive 80 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines this year.
He also says that between now and sometime between April and June, Canada will have enough doses to vaccinate up to 20 million people against the deadly coronavirus.
Trudeau is also announcing the Canada-U. S. land border will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least Feb. 21 — another 30-day extension to the restrictions in place since mid-March.
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11:15 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 1,934 new cases of COVID-19 today and 47 more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including 13 within the preceding 24 hours.
Health officials say the number of hospitalizations rose by 61, to 1,497, and 221 people were in intensive care, a rise of 10.
The province says it administered 7,058 doses of vaccine yesterday, for a total of 99,510 doses.
Quebec has reported 232,624 cases of COVID-19 and 8,782 deaths linked to the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.
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10:30 a.m.
There are 2,903 new cases of COVID-19 in Ontario today, including eight new cases of a variant from the United Kingdom.
The province is also reporting 41 more deaths linked to the virus.
Ontario says that nearly 11,500 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered since its last daily update.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2021.
The Canadian Press
