The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):
9:30 p.m.
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says public health officials have found seven probable cases of a contagious variant of COVID-19 in Pauingassi First Nation.
It says the samples have been sent to the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg to confirm whether they are the variant that was first discovered in the U.K.
Members of the Armed Forces were deployed to Pauingassi a week ago after cases there spiked.
—
6 p.m.
Alberta’s chief medical health officer is reporting 15 new COVID-19 deaths and 305 additional cases.
The deaths that Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced in a series of tweets on Saturday bring the province’s total since the pandemic began to 1,175.
There are 5,271 active cases in Alberta, with 359 people in hospital and 64 of those receiving intensive care.
Hinshaw says Alberta’s test positivity rate is 3.8 per cent.
—
3:20 p.m.
Saskatchewan is reporting 244 new cases of COVID-19 today and four additional deaths in people who tested positive for the virus.
All of the new deaths were in people over 70.
Health officials report in Saturday’s pandemic update that 1,950 COVID-19 cases are active in Saskatchewan, with 187 people in hospital and 20 in intensive care.
—
3 p.m.
Manitoba public health officials, along with the chief and council of the Cross Lake First Nation, say they’re seeing a trend of “concerning case numbers” in the northern community.
Effective Saturday, a new public health order states that all Cross Lake residents must stay in their homes or in immediately adjacent areas.
Residents are only allowed to leave in order to get essential supplies, access health services or go to work at an essential business.
A statement posted Friday on the community’s website said there were 45 active cases there, including 15 involving children.
The province is reporting one new COVID-19 death — a man in his 80s in the Winnipeg health region — and 99 new cases on Saturday.
This is the first weekend of relaxed public health orders in Manitoba after a number of restrictions that have been in place since November were lifted Friday.
—
2:15 p.m.
Officials in Prince Edward Island say a previously reported case of COVID-19 was caused by the variant of the virus first identified in the United Kingdom.
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison says the case involves a man in his 20s who has a history of international travel.
The case was first identified on Feb. 4 and the individual is in self-isolation.
With P.E.I’s announcement, all 10 provinces in Canada have now identified cases of the U.K.-based variant of the novel coronavirus.
—
2:10 p.m.
The Nunavut government is reporting five new cases in the territory’s only active COVID-19 outbreak.
There have been 264 cases of the novel coronavirus in Arviat since the first case there in November, and nine were active on Saturday.
Arviat has been under strict lockdown, and a clinic to administer second doses of COVID-19 vaccines is scheduled to wrap up this weekend.
Rankin Inlet is the next community to receive second doses, which are scheduled to begin Monday.
—
2 p.m.
Public health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador are reporting 26 new cases of COVID-19 following a recent surge of infections in the St. John’s region.
The new cases bring the province’s active infection count to 285.
Officials reported yesterday the outbreak has been caused by the variant of COVID-19 first identified in the United Kingdom.
Currently, no one is in hospital due to the disease.
—
1 p.m.
Nova Scotia is reporting two new cases of COVID-19 today.
Officials say both the cases are related to travel outside the Atlantic region.
The province now has 10 active cases of the disease.
One person is currently in intensive care due to the novel coronavirus.
—
11:45 a.m.
Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting 16 new cases of COVID-19.
Fifteen of the cases have been identified in the Edmundston region, while one case was found in the Moncton area.
Active COVID-19 diagnoses in the province now sit at 160.
There are currently seven people hospitalized because of the virus, three of whom are in intensive care.
—
11:35 a.m.
The federal government is diverting some of Nova Scotia’s COVID-19 vaccines to Canada’s North.
Provincial Chief medical officer of health Dr. Robert Strang says Ottawa will be reallocating a portion of the upcoming delivery of Moderna vaccines to the country’s northern territories.
The diversion means Nova Scotia will receive 3,000 of the vaccines instead of the originally planned 5,900.
Nova Scotia is also expecting a reduction in its March shipment of vaccines, though Strang says officials are waiting for confirmation from the federal government.
—
11:30 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 1,049 new COVID-19 cases today, while the overall death toll rose by 33.
The province says five of the most recent fatalities came in the past 24 hours, with 21 occurring between Feb. 6 and Feb. 11 and seven taking place before Feb. 6.
The number of virus-related hospitalizations decreased by 37 since the last daily report and currently stands at 812.
The number of patients in intensive care declined by seven to 130.
—
11 a.m.
Ontario is reporting a slight increase in daily COVID-19 cases today.
The province logged 1,300 new infections over the past 24 hours, along with 19 new deaths linked to the virus.
Case counts have hovered closer to the 1,000 mark in recent days.
Yesterday the province announced that 27 of its public health units could move back to Ontario’s colour-coded pandemic response plan as of Tuesday, allowing them to ease public health restrictions based on local case numbers.
—
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2021.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
