The latest developments on COVID-19 in Canada

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

6:25 p.m.

B.C. has recorded its first confirmed case of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in a child after antibody testing showed evidence of COVID-19 in the child, who has since recovered.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced the case in the child under the age of five while reporting 142 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.

There are 1,494 active infections in the province, including 74 people who are in hospital.

A new community cluster of COVID-19 has been detected at the FedEx office near the airport in Kelowna and Henry says there is no risk to members of the public.

Henry is also urging everyone to get the flu vaccine this year and adds the optimal time to be immunized is in the coming weeks.

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3:50 p.m.

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting one new case of COVID-19, bringing the province’s number of active cases to nine and its total since the beginning of the pandemic to 284.

In a release today, health officials say the new case is a man in his 40s in the western region of the province.

The man is a close contact of a previous case and he was already quarantined throughout his infectious period.

Officials say there is no risk of transmission to the community.

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3 p.m.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault says Halloween is only for kids this year.

Children will be able to go door to door to collect candy, but only if they trick-or-treat with members of their households.

Adults are not permitted to celebrate Halloween in groups and they’ll need to keep a two-metre distance when distributing candy to costumed youth. 

Legault is also warning Quebecers that some of the partial lockdown measures imposed on the biggest cities will likely be extended beyond Oct. 28.

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2:42 p.m.

Two more cases of COVID-19 — a patient and a health-care worker — have been linked to an outbreak at Calgary’s largest hospital.

A total of 46 patients, 38 staff and five visitors have tested positive in connection with the outbreak at Foothills Medical Centre.

Eleven patients have died.

Dr. Peter Jamieson, the site medical director, says the preliminary investigation shows there is not one single source that explains all the outbreaks.   

While Jamieson says he feels optimistic about getting the current outbreaks under control, all hospitals in the province remain at risk with growing numbers linked to community spread of the virus.

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2:18 p.m.

Manitoba’s chief public health officer says tighter COVID-19 restrictions are coming to Winnipeg as early as Friday because case counts continue to rise sharply.

Dr. Brent Roussin says he is looking at imposing widespread capacity limits in public places across many sectors.

Health officials are already imposing new restrictions on licensed personal care homes in the greater Winnipeg area that will require new admissions to be isolated for 14 days.

The province is reporting a record-high 173 new COVID-19 cases, and currently has a per capita active case count that is higher than any other province except Quebec.

Roussin says some people who are symptomatic are ignoring public health guidelines and still going to social gatherings.

He says there were 40 infections and 243 contacts who had to self-isolate after one person went out in September.

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1:30 p.m.

Ottawa police say they have charged a woman with violating the Quarantine Act after she went to work four days after returning from a trip outside Canada.

They say she came back to Canada on Sept. 26 and went to her job at a long-term care facility on Sept. 30 rather than self-isolating for the legally required 14 days.

Her bosses sent her home upon learning of the situation and no cases of COVID-19 there have been traced to her, according to a police statement.

The 53-year-old is charged with two counts under the Quarantine Act: one of violating the self-isolation requirement and a separate one of causing a risk of imminent death or serious bodily harm by knowingly breaking quarantine.

The second charge carries a maximum potential penalty of a $1-million fine and three years in prison.

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12:15 p.m.

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says the federal government knows of 209 active cases of COVID-19 on First Nations and in Indigenous communities.

He says the figures are troubling and a sign of the pandemic’s resurgence across the country.

Indigenous leaders worked hard to get the first wave under control and he says they can do it again with proper federal support.

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11:15 a.m.

Quebec is reporting 969 cases of COVID-19 and eight deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours.

Health officials are reporting another 22 deaths linked to the virus that they say occurred at earlier dates.

The province says hospitalizations increased by five compared with the prior day, for a total of 493.

There are 83 patients in intensive care, an rise of three.

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10:30 a.m.

Ontario is reporting 783 new cases of COVID-19 and five new deaths related to the coronavirus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says 239 of the new cases are in Toronto, 136 are in Peel Region, 127 are in York Region and 89 are in Ottawa.

She says there are 779 newly resolved cases.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2020.

The Canadian Press