The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada

The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):

4:05 p.m.

A spokeswoman for Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says at least two more members of the United Conservative government traveled abroad over the holidays.

Christine Myatt says Jeremy Nixon and Tanya Fir, both representing Calgary-area ridings, took trips to the U.S. in recent weeks. 

She says Nixon has been ordered to cut his trip to Hawaii short and return home on the earliest possible flight. 

Myatt says Fir issued a facebook poast in which she apologized for taking a trip to visit her sister and noted that she was now back in Alberta.

Kenney issued an order yesterday barring members of his caucus and senior party staff from going abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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3:45 p.m.

Saskatchewan is reporting 485 new COVID-19 cases over the past two days, along with three new deaths.
The province says that as of today, 3,722 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to health-care workers in Regina and Saskatoon.
It says with the arrival of 4,900 doses of the Moderna vaccine, the Far North Central and far North West regions will begin vaccinating priority populations on Monday.
The government says 160 people are in hospital with COVID-19, with 33 of those in intensive care.

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2:40 p.m.

Manitoba officials are reporting 11 deaths from COVID-19 over the past two days.
The province says in its daily pandemic update that 326 new cases of the virus were identified between 9:30 a.m. on Thursday and 9:30 a.m. today.
The province did not issue an update on New Year’s Day.
The province says the five-day test positivity rate is 10.4 per cent.
There are 239 patients with active COVID-19 in Manitoba hospitals, 36 of whom are in intensive care.
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2:30 p.m.

Health authorities in New Brunswick are reporting 10 new cases of COVID-19.
Officials say the new infections are in the Fredericton region and all patients are self-isolating.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell says the spike in new cases is concerning, but public health suspects a number of the new cases are connected.
Russell says contact tracing is underway to find out.

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1:50 p.m.

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health says there were an estimated 900 new COVID-19 cases recorded in the province on New Year’s Day.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw provided the update in a tweet today.
She did not give an update on the number of new COVID-19 deaths in the province.
Hinshaw says there was an estimated seven per cent test positivity on about 12,700 labratory tests.
She says the number of people with COVID-19 in hospitals and intensive care was stable.

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1:40 p.m.

Health authorities in Nova Scotia are reporting 13 new cases of COVID-19.
They say five of the new cases are at Churchill Academy, a private school in Dartmouth, near Halifax.
With two cases previously reported at the school, the latest numbers bring the total known infections there to seven.
Nova Scotia now has 27 active cases of COVID-19.

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11:00 a.m.

Ontario has set yet another single-day high for COVID-19 cases in the province. 

The 3,363 new diagnoses reported today is just slightly above the previous record of 3,328 logged on Thursday.

Ontario also recorded 2,476 new cases from New Year’s Day, when it did not release new data. 

The province recorded 95 new deaths in the two days since its last report. 

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2021. 

The Canadian Press