The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):
6 p.m.
Alberta’s daily tally of new COVID-19 diagnoses has passed the 1,000-case threshold.
Officials in that province are today reporting 1,026 new cases of the virus.
The province is also reporting three new deaths for a total of 401 since the pandemic began.
Fifty-four people were in intensive care, unchanged from yesterday.
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3:31 p.m.
Saskatchewan says a snowstorm earlier this week is part of the reason it is reporting a high number of new COVID-19 cases today. The province says there are 308 new cases, up from 81 on Friday which had been the lowest number in recent days. Saskatchewan’s daily COVID-19 update says fewer people went for testing because of the snow, and the storm also delayed getting samples from remote locations to provincial labs. It says even though case daily case numbers are fluctuating, “there is an upward trend in positive case numbers.”
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3:10 p.m.
Nunavut is reporting four new cases of COVID-19, all of them in the Hudson Bay community of Arviat. The latest cases make for a total of five in Arviat after the territory’s health officials announced a case there on Friday. A news release from the territory says all the patients in the community are in isolation and are doing well. So far, Nunavut has recorded eight positive cases of COVID-19.
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2:15 p.m.
Manitoba is reporting 237 COVID-19 cases and 15 additional deaths from the virus.
The province says the deaths occurred over more than a week, from Nov. 2 to Nov. 13. It brings the total number of deaths since the pandemic began to 152 in Manitoba. The province says 11 of the deaths it reported Saturday were from the outbreak at the Maples Personal Care Home in Winnipeg. Health officials said yesterday they had uncovered problems with protective equipment, staffing and the tracking of resident feeding at the facility. —
1:30 p.m.
Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting two new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and now has eight active cases of the virus.
Health officials say both are travel-related.
One case involves a woman between 20 and 39 years-old in the eastern health region who returned from travel in the United States, while the other is a woman in the western health region, also between 20 and 39, who returned to the province from Ontario.
The province has recorded 301 cases of COVID-19 since March, while 289 people have recovered and there have been four deaths.
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12:55 p.m.
Nova Scotia is reporting six new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of active cases in the province to 21.
Health officials say all of the new cases are in the central health zone, which includes Halifax, and all are contacts of previously reported cases.
Nova Scotia has recorded a total of 1,142 positive cases of the novel coronavirus, while 1,056 cases are considered recovered and there have been 65 deaths.
No one is currently in hospital.
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12:10 p.m.
New Brunswick is reporting six new cases of COVID-19 and now has 19 active cases provincewide.
Public Health says four of the new cases are in the Moncton area, while there are one each in the Saint John region and the Fredericton area.
The province has had a total of 364 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and six deaths.
Two patients are currently hospitalized with one in intensive care.
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11:15 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 1,448 new cases of COVID-19 as well as 25 additional deaths linked to the pandemic. The province says four of the deaths occurred in the last 24 hours, while 17 occurred between Nov. 7 and 12 and the rest are unknown. Hospitalizations remained stable at 583, while the number of people in intensive care diminished by three to 82. A total of 122,643 people have tested positive and 6,611 people have died in Quebec since the pandemic began.
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10:40 a.m.
Ontario is reporting a record 1,581 new cases of COVID-19 today, and 20 new deaths linked to the virus. Health Minister Christine Elliott says there are 497 cases in Peel Region, 456 in Toronto, 130 in York Region and 77 in Ottawa. The province says it has conducted 44,837 tests since the last daily report. In total, 502 people are hospitalized in Ontario due to COVID-19, including 107 in intensive care.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2020.
The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said there were two cases in the Saint John region of New Brunswick when there is only one
VANCOUVER – Mayors and other leaders from several British Columbia communities say the provincial and federal governments need to take “immediate action” to tackle mental health and public safety issues that have reached crisis levels.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says it’s become “abundantly clear” that mental health and addiction issues and public safety have caused crises that are “gripping” Vancouver, and he and other politicians, First Nations leaders and law enforcement officials are pleading for federal and provincial help.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby, mayors say there are “three critical fronts” that require action including “mandatory care” for people with severe mental health and addiction issues.
The letter says senior governments also need to bring in “meaningful bail reform” for repeat offenders, and the federal government must improve policing at Metro Vancouver ports to stop illicit drugs from coming in and stolen vehicles from being exported.
Sim says the “current system” has failed British Columbians, and the number of people dealing with severe mental health and addiction issues due to lack of proper care has “reached a critical point.”
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says repeat violent offenders are too often released on bail due to a “revolving door of justice,” and a new approach is needed to deal with mentally ill people who “pose a serious and immediate danger to themselves and others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
