The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):
11:15 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 945 new COVID-19 cases and four more deaths linked to the novel coronavirus, including one in the previous 24 hours.
Health authorities say 496 people are in hospital, a drop of 12 patients, with 117 requiring intensive care, down by one.
The province gave 39,814 doses of vaccine on Wednesday for a total of 1,065,823 since the COVID-19 vaccination campaign began.
Quebec has reported a total of 305,435 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 10,630 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic and has 7,173 active cases.
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11 a.m.
The major-general overseeing the country’s vaccine program says there is “no indication” that shipments of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Canada will be delayed, but adds that discussions are ongoing.
Media reports Wednesday said India has halted exports of Covishield, the version of AstraZeneca produced at the country’s Serum Institute.
India has already supplied 500,000 doses of a planned two million to Canada, with another one million still slated for arrival in mid-April followed by a final shipment a month or so later.
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin’s remarks to reporters echoed those of International Trade Minister Mary Ng, who said Wednesday there is nothing to indicate Canada’s supply chains will be disrupted.
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10:35 a.m.
Ontario is reporting 2,380 new cases of COVID-19, but the Ministry of Health says that number is inflated by a data processing issue.
A ministry spokeswoman says that approximately 280 cases were added to the count because of a data catch-up process.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says that 1,016 of those new cases are in Toronto.
She also says there are 294 new cases in Peel Region, 244 in York Region and 152 in Ottawa.
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10:15 a.m.
Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout has reached a double-digit milestone, as 11 per cent of the country’s adult population is now at least partially protected from the virus.
Canada’s deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo says the country has surpassed the 10 per cent mark of residents over 18 who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Njoo adds, however, that 11 per cent isn’t enough to stop the spread of the virus, and more transmissible variants continue to pose a “significant threat” as widespread protection is still not established.
Njoo says over 4.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Canada since the rollout began in mid-December.
Sixty per cent of Canadians over the age of 80, and 19 per cent of those aged 70 to 79 years have received at least one dose, Njoo says.
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10 a.m.
Health Canada has updated the product label for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to warn about blood clotting, but says reports of those events are “very rare” — and in Canada nonexistent.
The label warning follows reports from Europe that AstraZeneca might cause a rare type of blood clot in the brain in a very small number of patients.
Health Canada’s chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma says she agrees with European health authorities that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh any potential risks, and that all four vaccines approved for use in Canada are considered safe.
Sharma says Health Canada is keeping an eye on developments across the Atlantic, where researchers say they have identified a possible cause for the blood clots, but little information is available so far.
She says about 300,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine, made at the Serum Institute of India, have been administered in Canada to date, with no serious health events reported.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2021.
The Canadian Press
