The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada

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

8:15 p.m.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s website says the province is reporting 519 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths.

The total number of infections in the province now stands at 59,072, with 1,031 fatalities.

So far, 51,893 people have recovered from the virus.

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5:40 p.m.

Alberta is reporting 875 new cases of COVID-19.

There have also been 23 additional deaths linked to the virus.

The province’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, says there are 820 people in hospital.

Of those, 137 are in intensive care.

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4:25 p.m.

Yukon’s chief medical officer of health says he can see the territory’s population achieving herd immunity within three months from now if the vaccine supplies come in as scheduled.

Dr. Brendan Hanley says any adult who would like to get a vaccine will have a chance to get one within a matter of weeks.

He says the territory is organizing a mass clinic in Whitehorse to get as many people vaccinated as possible.

Premier Sandy Silver says so far, 685 people have received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine and a shipment of 7,200 doses is scheduled to arrive this week.

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3:25 p.m.

The Nunavut community hit hardest by COVID-19 is offering cash prizes for people who get vaccinated. 

Arviat, a community of about 1,800 people on the western shore of Hudson Bay, had 222 of the territory’s 266 COVID-19 cases. 

The hamlet’s office says anyone who gets a shot can have their name entered to win one of five cash prizes of $2,000 each.

A draw is to be held next week over the local radio station.

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2:40 p.m.

Saskatchewan health officials say there are 247 new cases of COVID-19.

There are 205 people in hospital, with 36 of them receiving intensive care.

Two more people have also died from the virus, adding to the pandemic death toll, which is more than 200.

As of Tuesday, Saskatchewan had the highest rate of active cases in Canada per 100,000.

Premier Scott Moe says he believes the recent spike is from holiday gatherings, and wants to wait two more weeks to see if cases start declining.

The Ministry of Health says 10,400 doses of vaccine have gone into people’s arms so far.

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2 p.m.

Manitoba is reporting 155 additional COVID-19 cases and five deaths. 

Health officials say there are spikes in some northern communities such as Lynn Lake and Thompson. 

But overall, Manitoba’s daily number of new cases continues to trend downward.

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1:40 p.m.

Nova Scotia is reporting eight new cases of COVID-19 and now has a total of 30 active cases.

Three of the cases are in the northern zone and are close contacts of previously reported cases.

Two are in the eastern zone related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada, with one involving a student at Cape Breton University in Sydney who lives off campus and the other being a student at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish who lives off campus.

The three remaining cases in the Halifax area are also related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada, with one case involving a student at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax who lives on campus.

No one is currently in hospital.

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1:15 p.m.

There has been another death at a seniors long-term care facility in Saint John, N.B., bringing the number of COVID-related deaths in New Brunswick to 12.

The death Tuesday was the third at Lily Court, which is part of the Parkland Saint John Tucker Hall facility run by Shannex.

The current number of active cases at Tucker Hall is 14 residents and 11 employees.

Today, the province reported 19 new cases in New Brunswick, bringing the number of active cases to 230, with three people in hospital.

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12:50 p.m.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says there have been a total of 674,473 COVID-19 cases across the country since the beginning of the pandemic, according to national figures updated Tuesday evening.

That includes 17,233 from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

There are 80,793 active COVID-19 cases in Canada and the latest national data says there was a daily average of 7,943 new cases reported between Jan. 6 and 12.

Over that same time period, there was a daily average of 4,500 people being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals, including an average of 839 people in intensive care units every day.

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12:15 p.m.

Ontario plans to administer the COVID-19 vaccine in all nursing homes and high-risk retirement homes by Feb. 15. 

The province says residents, workers and essential caregivers at those facilities will get their first dose by that date. 

The plan builds on an earlier pledge to give the COVID-19 vaccine to long-term care facilities in virus hot spots by Jan. 21. 

The government says it’s now able to move the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine safely to long-term care facilities, which has allowed it to speed up immunizations in nursing homes.

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11:15 a.m. 

Quebec is reporting 2,071 new cases of COVID-19 today and 35 more deaths attributed to the virus.

Health officials say hospitalizations rose to 1,516 in the last 24 hours and 229 hospitalized people were in intensive care.

The province says it administered 7,855 doses of vaccine yesterday, for a total of 107,365.

Two deaths previously attributed to COVID-19 were removed from the total death toll after they were determined to have been unrelated.

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10:30 a.m.

There are 2,961 new cases of COVID-19 in Ontario and 74 more deaths from the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says there are 738 new cases in Toronto, 536 in Peel Region, and 245 in Windsor-Essex County.

Ontario is also reporting that more than 11,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered since the last daily update.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2021.

The Canadian Press