The latest:
Saskatchewan’s health-care system is feeling the strain as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise — and the provincial health authority is warning that some non-essential services are at risk.
The province on Thursday reported 299 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the number of active cases to 3,146. According to health officials, there were 108 people in hospital, with 18 in intensive care.
“When our workload increases — particularly when it increases quickly — we are required to redeploy staff and disrupt other services,” Saskatchewan Health Authority president and CEO Scott Livingstone said Thursday.
He also urged people to cut down contacts, saying a single positive case creates hours of work for contact tracers.
“That work can grow exponentially when you factor in the number of contacts,” he said, noting that the tracing system is “under strain.”
Dozens of the cases announced Thursday were from the Saskatoon Correctional Centre.
“Of the cases announced today, 72 are from the Saskatoon Correctional Centre — 68 of these are offenders, and four are staff,” a health authority statement said.
The province said new admissions to the jail, which as of Thursday had seen a total of 85 active cases, are being suspended.
A range of new public health measures are now in effect in Saskatchewan, including a rule that says no more than 30 people are allowed to gather inside public venues. Large retail stores are limited to half-capacity, and no more than four people can sit together at a bar or restaurant.
What’s happening across Canada
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As of 7:30 a.m. ET on Friday, Canada’s COVID-19 case count stood at 353,097, with 60,375 of those considered active cases. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 11,799.
British Columbia health officials reported 887 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 additional deaths on Thursday, bringing the provincial death toll to 384. Hospitalizations stood at 294, with 64 people in intensive care.
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In Alberta, the number of active COVID-19 cases hit 14,052 on Thursday as the province reported 1,077 new cases. Hospitalizations stood at 383, with 84 people being treated in intensive care.
The numbers came as Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said she was “profoundly disappointed” over a leak of confidential information from meetings she and her colleagues held to develop recommendations on how to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The top doctor in Manitoba said roughly 70 per cent of the 266 COVID-19 deaths recorded in the province were recorded in November alone.
“We can’t continue with these daily case counts,” said Dr. Brent Roussin. “We can’t continue to list off this many Manitobans lost daily.”
Manitoba reported 383 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday and said there were 307 people in hospital — including 46 in intensive care.
Ontario reported another 1,478 cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, with 21 additional deaths.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said 572 of those cases were in Peel Region, and 356 were in Toronto — both of which are in the “lockdown” stage of the province’s pandemic protection plan.
The numbers also show that 556 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province, with 151 in ICU.
Quebec reported 1,464 new COVID-19 infections and 32 more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, bringing the provincial death toll to 6,947.Health officials said hospitalizations had increased to 675, with 90 people in intensive care.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia reported 14 cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, while neighbouring New Brunswick reported 12 additional cases.
Newfoundland and Labrador reported three new cases on Thursday, while Prince Edward Island had no new cases.
Across the North, there were no new cases of COVID-19 reported in Nunavut or the Northwest Territories on Thursday. Yukon reported three new cases on Thursday, with two in Whitehorse and one in a rural community.
What’s happening around the world
From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 8:50 a.m. ET
As of early Friday morning, there were more than 61.1 million cases of COVID-19 recorded worldwide, with more than 39.1 million of those considered recovered or resolved, according to a coronavirus tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at more than 1.4 million.
In the Americas, Americans marked a muted Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday, sometimes seeing family only by video after political leaders discouraged travel or large gatherings.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, meanwhile, said he will not take a vaccine, while the governor of Sao Paulo state floated the idea of rolling out one without approval from the national health regulator.
In the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea’s daily coronavirus tally is above 500 for a second straight day and the country’s prime minister is urging the public to stay at home this weekend to contain a viral resurgence.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Friday that people should avoid social gatherings and refrain from going out in public this weekend. South Korea has seen a spike in fresh infections since it eased tough physical distancing rules last month.
Authorities reported 569 newly confirmed infections over the past 24 hours, raising the country’s total to 32,887 for the pandemic, with 516 deaths. The 583 new cases reported Thursday was the first time that South Korea’s daily tally had exceeded 500 since March.
In the Middle East, Iran on Friday announced that all government offices will effectively close and operate with only essential staff, further tightening coronavirus measures as the country struggles to contain its most widespread wave of infection yet.
Starting this Saturday — the first day of Iran’s workweek — state TV said “only those employees who need to be present will be at work” in government offices. Managers will make the call on who must still come to work. The report did not specify how long the closures would last, but asked Iranians to postpone any planned visits to government offices.
Infections have soared in recent months, and on Friday, Iran again set a record for new virus cases in a single day with 14,051 cases, bringing the total to 922,397.
Iran has also recorded more than 400 daily virus deaths since last Saturday, the same day new tightened restrictions went into effect. Health Ministry spokesperson Sima Sadat Lari said the death toll on Friday reached 47,095, after 406 people died since Thursday.
In Europe, Health Minister Salvador Illa said Spain will be able to vaccinate its 47 million residents against the coronavirus in three waves starting in January and ending “during the months of summer.”
Some 2.5 million people, including residents and personnel working in nursing homes and health workers, will be prioritized for the first batch of vaccines that Spain expects to administer between January and March, Illa said Friday.
He said that experts are analyzing what will be the order for vaccinating other groups in the March to June vaccination campaign and for the last batch, over the summer, depending on their risk of contagion and the availability of vaccine doses. Spain has closed contracts to purchase 140 million doses that could cover 80 million people.
In Africa, mass vaccination against COVID-19 is unlikely to start until midway through next year and keeping vaccines cold could be a big challenge, the continent’s disease control group said on Thursday.
