Health officials across Canada reported 6,285 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, pushing the total number of infections to 673,957.
Another 147 people have also died after testing positive for COVID-19, bringing the national death toll to 17,233.
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However, since the pandemic began, 545,971 people have recovered after contracting the respiratory illness, while 19,371,229 tests have been administered.
The new cases and fatalities come as the federal government announced it has secured 20 million more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to protect against the virus.
“From our agreements with Moderna and Pfizer alone, we will now have 80 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines arriving this year,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a press conference in Ottawa. “We’re on track to have every Canadian who wants a vaccine receive one by September.”
Trudeau said the federal government has let all provinces and territories know “exactly how many vaccines they’ll be receiving every week between now and the end of February.”
The prime minister also announced the Canada-U.S. border will remain closed to non-essential travellers until Feb. 21, in an effort to stem the spread of the virus.
Provinces report thousands of new infections
In Ontario, 2,903 new cases and 41 new fatalities were detected.
This means since the pandemic began the province has reported 222,023 infections and 5,053 deaths.
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Ontario Premier Doug Ford imposed another state of emergency on Tuesday, the second since the onset of the pandemic in March. He said it will be in effect for at least 28 days.
Saskatchewan added 248 new cases and five new deaths on Tuesday, while 90 new infections and seven new fatalities were reported in Manitoba.
4:00 Mitigating back-to-school risks
Mitigating back-to-school risks
Nineteen new cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Atlantic Canada, with health officials in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island each reporting one infection.
Newfoundland and Labrador did not detect any new cases or deaths associated with the coronavirus Tuesday.
New Brunswick added 17 cases of the virus, and was the only maritime province to report any new fatalities. Two new deaths bring the provincial death toll to 11.
In western Canada, 1,088 more people have tested positive for the virus, officials said.
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Alberta health officials said 652 new cases of the disease have been detected and 38 more deaths have occurred.
In British Columbia, 439 new infections and nine new fatalties were reported.
No new cases or fatalities were announced in Canada’s territories either.
Global cases top 91 million
The novel coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019. In the months since, it has infected a total of 91,492,144, worldwide and claimed 1,958,894 lives, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.
The United States remained the viral epicentre on Tuesday, with more than 22.7 million infections and at least 379,000 deaths.
TORONTO – Ontario is pushing through several bills with little or no debate, which the government house leader says is due to a short legislative sitting.
The government has significantly reduced debate and committee time on the proposed law that would force municipalities to seek permission to install bike lanes when they would remove a car lane.
It also passed the fall economic statement that contains legislation to send out $200 cheques to taxpayers with reduced debating time.
The province tabled a bill Wednesday afternoon that would extend the per-vote subsidy program, which funnels money to political parties, until 2027.
That bill passed third reading Thursday morning with no debate and is awaiting royal assent.
Government House Leader Steve Clark did not answer a question about whether the province is speeding up passage of the bills in order to have an election in the spring, which Premier Doug Ford has not ruled out.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
