The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada

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

7:45 p.m.

Nunavut is reporting a new case of COVID-19.

The case is in the Hudson Bay community of Arviat, where there are now 18 active cases.

Arviat is the only community in the territory with active cases, and is experiencing its second outbreak.

As of Saturday, Nunavut has had 284 COVID-19 cases and one death.

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6:30 p.m.

Alberta’s chief medical health officer is reporting 11 new COVID-19 deaths.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced the news in a series of tweets, where she also reported 383 new COVID-19 infections across the province.

Hinshaw says there are 582 people in hospital with COVID-19 in Alberta, including 103 in intensive care.

Premier Jason Kenney announced Friday that some public health measures will be eased on indoor fitness centres, school sports, restaurants and bars due to lower hospitalization numbers.

Hinshaw notes that while Alberta continues to make progress and is seeing numbers decrease, it’s important for people to remain vigilant and make safe choices.

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3:10 p.m.

Eight more people who tested positive for COVID-19 in Saskatchewan have died, and the province is reporting 258 new cases.

The government says in its daily COVID-19 update that the province’s seven-day average of new daily infections is 244, which works out to 19.9 new cases per 100,000 people.

The update says there are more than 2,500 cases that are considered active in the province.

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2:30 p.m.

Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting  12 new cases of COVID 19 and the virus-related death of one person in their 80s with underlying health conditions.

The latest death brings the province’s total number of COVID-related fatalities to 18.

As for the new cases, more than half of them were reported in the Edmundston area of northern New Brunswick, which is currently in the midst of a full lockdown.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of confirmed cases in New Brunswick has risen to 1,230, which includes 928 recoveries and 283 active cases.

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2:25 p.m.

Manitoba is reporting two new deaths in people with COVID-19.

The province says in its daily pandemic update that a man in his 80s in the Winnipeg region died in connection with an outbreak at Holy Family Personal Care Home.

The other death was a man in his 90s, and was linked to an outbreak at Heritage Life Personal Care Home in the Southern Health region.

The update says 166 new cases were identified as of 9:30 Saturday morning. 

Data shows Manitoba’s five-day COVID-19 test-positivity rate is 7.3 per cent provincially and 4.4 per cent in Winnipeg.

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12:30 p.m.

Nova Scotia is reporting three new cases of COVID-19.

The province is now dealing with 11 active cases.

All of the new infections are related to travel outside the Atlantic region.

Since the pandemic began, Nova Scotia has recorded 1,580 cases, 1,504 recoveries and 65 deaths.

Premier Stephen McNeil issued a brief statement today thanking residents for helping slow the spread of the virus.

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11:10 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 1,367 new cases of COVID-19 today and 46 additional deaths linked to the virus, including 14 within the past 24 hours.

Public health authorities say the number of hospitalizations declined by 54 over the past 24 hours to 1,163. The number of people in intensive care declined by eight from the previous day to 201.

The Health Department says 2,086 doses of vaccine were administered on Friday for a total of 238,143 doses. 

It says Quebec has received 238,100 doses of vaccine from the federal government, but was able to administer more because some vaccine vials contain an extra dose.

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10:55 a.m.

Ontario is reporting 2,063 new cases of COVID-19.

The province is also reporting 73 more deaths from the virus.

One-thousand-273 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Saturday, with 353 people in intensive care and 216 on ventilators.

Provincial data says 9,373 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in the past 24 hours.

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10:30 a.m.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault says he plans to announce changes to Quebec’s COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday.

Legault wrote in a Saturday-morning Facebook post that he hopes to be able to relax some restrictions, particularly those around retail stores, if the situation permits.

Legault wrote that the changes would come into effect after Feb. 8.

Businesses designated “non-essential” have been closed across Quebec since Dec. 25 and the province has been under an 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew since Jan. 9.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 30, 2021. 

The Canadian Press