The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada for Wednesday, June 9, 2021

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

4:20 p.m.

Manitobans will soon be allowed to see their friends again as the province relaxes one of its COVID-19 restrictions.

A ban on virtually all social gatherings that has been in place since May 22, with exceptions for people who live alone, will be eased on Saturday. 

Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief public health officer, says people will be allowed to gather — outdoors only — in groups of up to five people.

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3:35 p.m.

Saskatchewan is reporting 57 new cases of COVID-19 today.

One person in their 50s has died.

There have been 171 more recoveries, leaving the province with 938 active cases.

This is the first time in seven months the province has reported fewer than 1,000 active cases.

The province also reported 109 people in hospital, including 20 patients in intensive care.

Sixty-eight per cent of Saskatchewan adults have now received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

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3 p.m.

Manitoba is reporting 250 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths. 

The five-day test positivity rate is 11.5 per cent provincially and 12.3 per cent in Winnipeg

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2:20 p.m.

Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting 13 new cases of COVID-19 in the province.

The cases involve six people in the Fredericton region, three in the Bathurst area, two in the Moncton region and one each in the Edmundston and Miramichi regions.

Officials have declared an outbreak at the Vida Living apartment complex in Oromocto and have confirmed a positive case at Leo Hayes High School in Fredericton.

There are now 105 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 72.2 per cent of New Brunswickers aged 12 and older have received their first dose of vaccine.

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2:15 p.m.

Yukon’s chief medical officer of health says the territory needs to improve its uptake of second doses of COVID-19 vaccines, if further restrictions are to be lifted.

Dr. Brendan Hanley says 79 per cent of eligible adults have received a first dose, but only 71 per cent have received a second dose.

Yukon is currently dealing with eight active cases of the virus, three of which originated from an outbreak at the Victoria Gold mine.

There have been 90 COVID-19 cases in Yukon during the pandemic and two virus-related deaths.

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1:20 p.m.

The Manitoba government is offering $100,000 cash prizes and $25,000 scholarships in an effort to convince more people to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Anyone who has or will receive a shot will be automatically entered into two lottery draws this summer, and each draw will have seven cash winners — three in Winnipeg and one in each of the four other health regions — and 10 scholarship winners. 

The scholarships will be reserved for people aged 12 to 17.

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1:20 p.m.

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting three new cases of COVID-19, and at least two infections linked to variants of concern.

The news comes as a school in the central Newfoundland town of Gander closed for the day following a possible COVID-19 exposure.

The regional health authority also opened a testing clinic for employees of the Gander Walmart store after a staff member tested positive for the disease.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, the province’s chief medical officer of health, says contact tracers are still trying to chase down the source of several infections across in province, including some linked to the Alpha variant first detected in the United Kingdom and the Delta variant first found in India.

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1:10 p.m.

Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says she is looking at ensuring Canada gets close to 75 per cent of eligible people vaccinated with both doses before she would be comfortable advising that border restrictions can be loosened for tourists and business travellers who aren’t Canadians or permanent residents.

She expects Canada to hit its first goalpost of having 75 per cent of eligible people with one dose, and 20 per cent with two, by the beginning of July, but getting the second dose to 75 per cent of eligible people will take longer.

Canada will have enough doses to do it by the end of July.

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1 p.m.

Procurement Minister Anita Anand says Canada will have enough vaccine delivered for 80 per cent of eligible Canadians to be fully vaccinated by the end of July. 

Only people over the age of 12 are able to get vaccinated currently, with Pfizer and Moderna hoping to submit data from trials on younger children in the fall.

Anand says there are now confirmed deliveries of 55 million doses by July 31, about 70 per cent of it from Pfizer-BioNTech.

That is enough to give two doses to more than 27 million people.

Currently, Canada has given one dose to 23.8 million people and both doses to 3.3 million people.

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12:45 p.m.

Nova Scotia is reporting 13 new cases of COVID-19 today.

Health officials have identified seven cases in the Halifax area and six in the province’s eastern zone which includes Cape Breton.

There are 164 known active cases of novel coronavirus with 15 people in hospital, including seven in intensive care.

As of Tuesday, 647,604 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, with 45,372 people having received their booster shot.

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12:15 p.m.

Procurement Minister Anita Anand says Moderna is going to start shipping its vaccine doses to Canada from its American production lines and will deliver seven million doses before the end of this month.

The deliveries should mean Moderna delivers 11.2 million doses in the second quarter, in the range of the 10.3 to 12.3 million doses it had previously promised.

The company has, however, not provided a specific delivery schedule yet for when the doses will arrive.

Moderna had until today only confirmed 1.5 million doses to be shipped next week, but that shipment may also be delayed or adjusted as the company shifts its Canadian supply to the United States.

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11 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 178 new cases of COVID-19 today and eight more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus.

Health officials say hospitalizations dropped by six, to 257, and the number of people in intensive care was unchanged at 60.

The province says more than 74,000 doses of vaccine were administered Tuesday.

Montreal reported 61 new cases today, more than any other region in the province. It was followed by the Chaudière-Appalaches region, south of Quebec City, which reported 21 new cases.

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10:30 a.m.

Ontario reports there are 411 new cases of COVID-19 in the province and 33 more deaths linked to the virus.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health says that 11 of the deaths reported today occurred in April and May.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says there are 97 new cases in Toronto, 72 in Peel Region and 35 in Waterloo.

Ontario says more than 177,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered since Tuesday’s report, for a total of more than 10.4 million.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2021.

The Canadian Press