The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):
1 p.m.
Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting two new confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Officials say both cases involve men in their 40s and are related to domestic travel.
There are now four active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and no one is in hospital due to the disease
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Newfoundland and Labrador has had 1,018 confirmed cases and six deaths.
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12:40 p.m.
Federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand says delivery of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will begin at the end of April.
The New Jersey-based company has been plagued with production issues that have slowed all deliveries, including in the United States.
Canada has bought 10 million doses of Johnson & Johnson, with the option of securing up to 28 million more.
Anand says the government is still finalizing the delivery schedule, but she confirmed in correspondence with the company last night that shipments will start to arrive in Canada within a month.
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12:25 p.m.
New Brunswick is reporting 14 new cases of COVID-19 today.
Health officials say eight of the new cases are in the Edmundston region and involve contacts of previously reported infections.
Officials say the six other cases are travel-related: four are located in the Moncton region while the Fredericton and Saint John areas each have one new case.
New Brunswick has 126 active reported COVID-19 infections and five people in hospital with the disease, including two in intensive care.
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11:55 a.m.
Canada’s chief public health officer says COVID-19 variants are driving a weeks-long spike in new cases and hospitalizations as the third wave of the pandemic continues to surge.
Dr. Theresa Tam says an average of more than 2,200 COVID-19 patients were in hospital last week, with more than 660 in intensive care, representing week-over-week increases of six per cent and 14 per cent respectively.
She says a 64 per cent increase in the number of COVID-19 variant cases over the past week marks the “most concerning” development.
Tam says the country has logged more than 9,000 cases of variants in the past week, with the B.1.1.7 mutation accounting for more than 90 per cent.
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11:40 a.m.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Pfizer-BioNTech has confirmed it will move up delivery of five million vaccine doses to June from later in the summer.
The earlier shipment period will boost the number of Pfizer doses received by the end of that month to 18 million doses.
Procurement Minister Anita Anand says the accelerated schedule means Canada will receive about 44 million vaccine doses in total by the end of June, more than enough for every Canadian to receive at least one shot.
By the end of this week, Canada will have received about 9.5 million vaccine doses from three manufacturers, with 3.2 million doses arriving this week alone.
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11:05 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 864 new cases of COVID-19 today and seven additional deaths linked to the novel coronavirus, including one within the past 24 hours.
The Health Department says the number of hospitalizations rose by 10 to 487, while the number of people in intensive care rose by six to reach 126.
Health authorities say 38,801 doses of vaccine were administered yesterday for a total of 1,261,855.
Quebec has reported 310,066 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 10,658 deaths linked to the disease.
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10:45 a.m.
Ontario reports 2,336 new cases of COVID-19 today and 14 more deaths linked to the virus.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says that there are 727 new cases in Toronto, 434 in Peel Region and 229 in York Region.
She also says there are 194 new cases in Durham Region, 144 in Ottawa and 123 in Hamilton.
Ontario says that 1,090 people are currently hospitalized with the virus, 387 are in intensive care, and 249 people are on a ventilator.
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10:45 a.m.
Health officials in Prince Edward Island are reporting three new cases of COVID-19 today.
They involve two people under 19 and one person in their 40s who are all close contacts of previous cases.
There are now 14 active cases in P.E.I. and 94 close contacts are in isolation.
There have been 159 positive cases of COVID-19 in the province since the onset of the pandemic.
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10:50 a.m.
Nova Scotia health officials are reporting three new cases of COVID-19.
They say one case is in the health zone including Halifax and is a close contact of a previously reported case.
The second case is in the northern part of the province and is under investigation, while the third was identified in the eastern region and is related to travel outside Atlantic Canada.
Officials say Nova Scotia now has 24 active infections.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2021.
The Canadian Press
