The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):
3:35 p.m.
Saskatchewan says it has detected its third case of a COVID-19 variant.
Officials say the individual who tested positive for the U.K. strain of the virus had travelled from southeast Asia.
The Ministry of Health says the resident is from the Saskatoon area and followed the proper quarantine measures.
Another 250 new COVID-19 cases were also announced, along with the deaths of seven more residents.
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3:10 p.m.
Prince Edward Island is reporting one new case of COVID-19.
Health officials say the case involves a man in his 20 who had travelled outside Atlantic Canada.
There are now three active reported cases of COVID-19 on the Island.
P.E.I. has reported a total of 113 infections and zero deaths linked to the virus.
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2:55 p.m.
A report looking at how COVID-19 spread in a Winnipeg care home has found a significant loss of staff over a short period of time contributed to the rapid spread of the deadly outbreak.
The outbreak was declared on Oct. 20 and wasn’t over until Jan. 12.
In that time, 74 staff and 157 residents tested positive, and 56 residents died.
Lynn Stevenson, who conducted the external review, offered 17 recommendations, including better pandemic plans and clear communication about staffing needs.
Health Minister Heather Stefanson says the government is committed to meeting all the recommendations.
Manitoba reported 110 new infections of COVID-19 and two more deaths Thursday.
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2:05 p.m.
New Brunswick is reporting 16 new cases of COVID-19.
Health officials say the province has 256 active reported cases and that five people are hospitalized with the disease, including two in intensive care.
Health Minister Dorothy Shephard says there are positive signs coming from the Moncton and Edmundston regions, which are under higher alert levels than the rest of the province.
She says restrictions on those two regions will be reassessed Monday.
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2 p.m.
Nunavut is reporting two new cases of COVID-19 today.
The two new cases are in Arviat, a community of about 2,800 and the centre of Nunavut’s largest outbreak.
Chief public health officer Dr. Michael Patterson says anyone who travelled from Arviat since Jan. 12 is asked to limit contacts, self-monitor for symptoms and contact their local health centre.
Arviat remains the only community in Nunavut still under a full lockdown, with non-essential businesses and schools closed.
There are 14 active cases of COVID-19 in Nunavut, all in Arviat.
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12:55 p.m.
Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting one new case of COVID-19 that health officials say is connected to a cluster of cases whose origin is unknown.
Officials say the new case involves a female under the age of 19 in the eastern health region who is a contact of a previously reported case.
The case is part of a cluster of six cases whose origin cannot be identified by contact tracers.
The province says it has 15 active reported cases of COVID-19.
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12:35 p.m.
Manitoba is considering loosening restrictions to allow restaurants, lounges, gyms and churches to reopen at a reduced capacity.
Current public health orders expire next week and the province is seeking public feedback about changes moving forward.
Non-essential businesses were forced to close in November as COVID-19 infections and deaths surged.
Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin says while numbers have significantly dropped, any steps to reopen must be taken cautiously.
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12:30 p.m.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says there’s been nearly a 30-per-cent drop in active COVID-19 cases across the country over the past two weeks.
The agency says there are currently 48,221 active cases in Canada, down from more than 68,400 cases two weeks ago.
National data suggest there’s also been a downward trend in daily case counts, with an average of 4,061 new infections reported per day over the past week.
Authorities say the slowdown has led to a gradual decline in severe COVID-19 outcomes, as provincial and territorial data show a seven-day average of 3,711 patients being treated in hospital each day.
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11:30 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 1,093 new COVID-19 infections and 42 more deaths attributed to the virus, including 15 in the previous 24 hours.
Health officials say hospitalizations have dipped by 36 to 1,070.
They say 175 people were in intensive care, a drop of two.
The province says it administered 2,300 doses of vaccine since the last update for a total of 243,955.
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11 a.m.
Nova Scotia is reporting one new travel-related case of COVID-19 today.
Health officials say the case was identified in the central zone and involves travel outside the Atlantic region.
Officials say one more person is recovered from COVID-19 and the province has 10 active cases.
Nova Scotia says it has administered about 16,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses, more than 4,000 of which were second doses.
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10:45 a.m.
Ontario is reporting 1,563 new cases of COVID-19 today and 88 more deaths linked to the virus.
Case numbers have been fluctuating sharply throughout the week, with officials attributing the swings to provincial database updates.
The pace of vaccinations in the province slowed to just over 6,724 in the past 24 hours.
More than 355,000 vaccine doses have been administered in Ontario so far.
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10:35 a.m.
Indigenous Services Canada says the number of active COVID-19 cases in First Nations communities has declined to the lowest point since Dec. 6.
The government says there were currently 1,869 such cases active as of Wednesday.
The department issued a news release saying COVID-19 recoveries have now outpaced new infections for two weeks in a row.
The department says more than 64,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered as of Wednesday.
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10:15 a.m.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is calling for more transparency in Canada’s procurement of vaccines because he says the Liberals didn’t do enough to guard against shortfalls in vaccine deliveries.
O’Toole says deliveries to Canada have been cut to only 15 per cent of what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised weeks ago.
Canada is facing shortfalls in the deliveries of promised doses from global pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Moderna, and O’Toole says the government should have kickstarted domestic vaccine production last year.
O’Toole says the Liberals should have foreseen the “vaccine nationalism” that has taken hold given the fact that Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said last spring that buying personal protective equipment in the global marketplace as like the “wild west.”
O’Toole says the fact Canada is accepting vaccines from the COVAX Facility, which is primarily aimed at helping developing countries, is evidence of more poor planning by the Liberals.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2021.
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.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
