The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada

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

6 p.m.

Alberta is reporting 750 new COVID-19 cases and 19 related deaths over the past 24 hours.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw says in a series of tweets that there are 12,234 active COVID-19 cases in the province, with 738 patients in hospital and 123 in intensive care.

Hinshaw says there were 11,484 tests completed yesterday, with a test positivity rate of 6.5 per cent.

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3:20 p.m.

Saskatchewan is reporting 287 new COVID-19 cases and three additional deaths today.

The province says it administered 3,232 COVID-19 vaccine doses on Saturday, which it describes as its highest one-day total to date.

It says 975 doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been sent to North Battleford this weekend, where clinics will begin delivering them to priority health-care workers on Monday.

The next day, doses will go to long-term care residents and staff in North Battleford, Wilkie and Lloydminster.

The province says 20,159 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far.

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2:15 p.m.

Manitoba is reporting 189 new COVID-19 infections and eight additional virus-related deaths in the past 24 hours.

The province’s daily pandemic report says seven of those who died were in their 70s or older, but one was in his 30s.

The provincial update says there are over 3,000 active cases in Manitoba, with 292 of them receiving treatment in hospital.

There are 39 people in intensive care who either have COVID-19 or are no longer infectious but continue to require care.

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2 p.m.

 for The Latest: New Brunswick is reporting 36 new cases of COVID-19, the largest single day total in the province since the pandemic began.

The new cases bring the province’s total number of active infections to 292.

Health officials say 24 of the cases are in the Edmundston region, which will be moved to the red alert level of virus precautions at midnight.

Five of the new cases are in the Moncton region, four are in the Saint John area, two in the Fredericton region and one is in the Bathurst area.

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1:30 p.m.

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting one new case of COVID-19 today, and now has six active cases.

Health officials say the case involves a man in the Eastern Health region between 20 and 39 years of age.

They say the case is travel-related, with the individual having returned to the province from work in Alberta.

Officials say that as a result of the case, they are asking passengers who travelled on Air Canada Flight 7480 from Montreal to St. John’s that arrived on January 13 to call 811 to arrange testing.

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12 p.m.

Nova Scotia is reporting four new cases of COVID-19 today and now has 29 active infections.

Health officials say there is one case each in the western, northern, eastern and central health zones.

The case in the central zone involves a student at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax who lives off-campus.

All of the new cases are related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada and all are self-isolating.

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11:20 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 50 new deaths due to COVID-19 as well as a preliminary total of 1,744 new cases.

The province says, however, that a data transmission delay means the number of cases is incomplete and will be adjusted in a future update.

Hospitalizations declined for the third straight day, down 14 to 1,460. 

There were also 12 fewer people in intensive care, for a total of 215.

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10:30 a.m.

Ontario has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours. 

The province is reporting 3,422 new cases of the virus today and 69 associated deaths. 

More than a thousand of the most recent diagnoses were based in Toronto, 585 were in neighbouring Peel Region, and 254 in Winsor-Esssex County. 

Hospitalizations across the province declined by 62 to 1,570, with 395 patients in intensive care. 

Health Minister Christine Elliott says the province has administered more than 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of last night. 

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2021.

The Canadian Press