The latest:
The number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb in parts of Canada, with Ontario reaching a new daily high of 1,328 on Sunday and setting a single-day record for a second consecutive day.
Toronto saw 434 of the new cases, followed by 385 in Peel Region, 105 in York Region, and 71 in Ottawa. Ontario’s daily case count of 1,132 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Saturday surpassed the previous provincial daily high of 1,050 cases reported on Tuesday.
A new colour-coded assessment system went into effect in Ontario on Saturday. Only Peel Region was deemed a red zone, while other hot spots such as York Region and Ottawa were labelled orange.
WATCH | Peel Region deemed red zone under Ontario’s new pandemic plan:
Earlier this week, the province rolled out its new tiered, colour-coded COVID-19 restriction framework. The red zone is less restrictive than the current modified Stage 2: restaurants and bars can serve indoors but only 10 customers are allowed inside, and gyms can open with restrictions. 0:56
Regions in the red category have, among other things, indoor restaurant dining limited to 10 people and gyms limited to 10 people indoors.
The orange level limits bars and restaurants to 50 people indoors, with no more than four seated together.
Alberta also saw a single-day high on Saturday, recording 919 new cases of COVID-19. The government’s website noted that due to technical issues, the numbers were preliminary and subject to reconciliation.
In Manitoba, a news briefing will be held Sunday to address a COVID-19 outbreak that has claimed the lives of 22 people at a long-term care home in Winnipeg.
Manitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Cameron Friesen will talk about the situation unfolding at Maples Personal Care Home, where eight residents died over the course of just two days.
City police officers wearing protective suits were seen entering the home Saturday evening. They headed to a forensic identification truck after leaving the facility.
The Winnipeg police duty office wouldn’t provide any information on Saturday night, but said the public information office is expected to provide more information on Sunday.
Manitoba, meanwhile, recorded 271 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday.
British Columbia recorded 567 cases on Saturday. That figure, along with the 589 diagnoses documented on Friday, represent the highest case counts seen in the province to date.
WATCH | B.C.’s top doctor talks about hard-hit Fraser Health region:
Dr. Bonnie Henry says there are a number of factors, including a large number of essential workers and multigenerational families. 1:50
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said linear case growth turned exponential in the past two weeks in the Lower Mainland. She strongly recommended that travel in and out of Fraser Health region and Vancouver Coastal Health region be limited to essential travel only as part of new rules covering a two-week period.
The restrictions prohibit residents in the regions from making social visits to other homes and halts indoor group fitness activities like yoga and spin classes.
What’s happening across Canada
As of 10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, provinces and territories in Canada had reported a cumulative total of 261,383 confirmed or presumptive coronavirus cases. Provinces and territories listed 213,971 cases as recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 10,493.
Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam noted Saturday that several regions are “experiencing accelerated growth” and urged Canadians to step up containment efforts.
She pointed to a growing number of people suffering severe COVID-19 illness as a worrisome trend that could further burden hospitals in the coming weeks, and warned that could be especially problematic as flu season intensifies.
“We need to retake the lead on COVID-19, by each reducing our close contacts to the best of our ability and employing key public health practices consistently and with precision,” Tam said in a statement.
In Quebec, 1,234 new cases and 29 more deaths were linked to the virus, with the province’s health department saying 11 of those deaths came in the past 24 hours.
Premier François Legault urged residents on Saturday to maintain efforts to keep COVID-19 at bay this winter. In an open letter, Legault thanked Quebecers for showing solidarity and expressed hope that grandparents will be able to see their grandchildren at Christmas.
Quebec officials have said they are especially concerned about Saguenay, north of Quebec City, and Lanaudière, north of Montreal — regions Legault has dubbed “the worst” in the province on a per-capita basis.
Saskatchewan is gearing up for municipal elections on Monday. Masks were ordered to be worn in indoor public spaces in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert, starting Friday, so polling stations in those cities will be included.
Saskatchewan reported 116 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday — the second-highest reported number of COVID-19 cases for one day in the province — and two additional deaths.
Nova Scotia reported four new cases on Saturday, bringing the number of active cases in the province to 20, the highest number since May 23.
New Brunswick reported three new cases, all in the Fredericton region, and one new recovery on Saturday.
Newfoundland reported two new cases and one new recovery on Saturday. Health officials there are asking people who are returning from work at Manitoba Hydro’s Keeyask Generating Station to self-isolate after news of an outbreak at the site earlier this week.
Until recently, P.E.I. was the only province in Canada with no active cases of COVID-19. That changed Friday when it announced two new cases, men in their 20s and 50s who had travelled outside Atlantic Canada.
In the North, Nunavut confirmed its first COVID-19 case on Friday, in Sanikiluaq.
Residents in the community of about 900 people are being asked to remain at home and to avoid mingling with those who are not part of their households, and all travel to and from Sanikiluaq is now restricted to cargo and emergencies.
What’s happening around the world
As of Sunday morning, more than 49.9 million of COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide, with more than 32.8 million of those listed as recovered, according to a coronavirus tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at more than 1.2 million, the U.S.-based university reported.
According to a Reuters tally, global coronavirus infections exceeded 50 million on Sunday, while the latest seven-day average shows daily infections across the globe are rising by more than 540,000.
The number of cases in the Americas made up nearly half of the global total to reach 21,326,640, according to the World Health Organization coronavirus disease dashboard.
The United States recorded 9,810,609 confirmed cases and 236,642 deaths, according to data released by the John Hopkins University on Saturday afternoon. The seven-day rolling average of new daily cases in the U.S. is approaching 100,000 for the first time, according to the data.
The country has registered over 100,000 single-day cases in four consecutive days, including 131,420 new infections on Saturday.
Texas became the first state to surpass a million coronavirus cases in the United States on Saturday. The surge in new cases in the past week came mainly from Harris, Dallas and El Paso counties, based on a Reuters tally. The surge is straining medical facilities, with the city of El Paso converting a convention centre into a field hospital.
In Europe, Portugal will impose localized night-time curfews from Monday to contain the spread of the coronavirus as the number of cases reached a record high, Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced in the early hours of Sunday.
“We cannot have the slightest doubt that everything must be done to contain the pandemic,” Costa told a news conference. “If we fail to do so, we must increasingly adopt more restrictive measures and compromise the month of December.”
In the Middle East, Iran reported 9,236 more cases of the coronavirus infection on Sunday, after reporting a new daily high of 9,460 cases on Saturday. The country’s health minister also recorded 459 additional deaths.
